Heart of Gold Fic No. 1 - Everybody Lives (Buffy)
Written for razycrandomgirl for the Heart of Gold Gift Giving at whedonland.
Title: Everybody Lives
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters: Main - Ampata, Nikki, Kendra (all Slayers that died)
Word Count: 7031
Rating: PG-13
Author’s Note: This takes place sometime right after the collapse of Sunnydale but I’m taking some liberties with the timeline after that. According to the wiki, there were other bands of slayers other than the one that Buffy took with her to create chaos throughout Season 8 (the comic series). One of them is in Cleveland under the watchful eye of Robin Wood. It is highly unlikely that he got up there so quickly but, well, this is from my imagination and things move quickly up there. I’m also assuming that Los Angeles is the next closest big city to Sunnydale. Also, you like angst but that would go against the theme of this story. If you’d like, I can rewrite it with a different ending and call it Everyone Dies… Again. *grins*
Summary: The goddess, alive in Willow, knows that something has to change or the fight they are engaged in will be lost. Three people are brought back from death’s embrace at just the right moment so they can work together to bridge the gap that have been left unmanned by the other Slayers.
There was nothing and then there was something. A rain of dust, a fissure of sunlight and the horrible thirst that meant death was once again put on hold.
***
Only moments after the entire city of Sunnydale dropped below the Earth’s crust, the phones at the New York Museum of Natural Science began ringing off the hook. The traveling Inca Princess exhibit didn’t seem to have good luck when it visited California. Five years before, the mummy had disappeared for a short period of time, sending everyone back at the main office into a tail spin of worry and despair. Only after much deliberation and a change of security protocols was the exhibit allowed to go back to the Sunnydale Museum.
That, it now appeared, had been a mistake. The museum was near the center of town which meant it would be under the most rubble.
“Do what you have to so we can get her back,” Dr. Jonas Franks, the man who had made the fateful decision to let the exhibit travel back to Sunnydale, yelled into the phone. It was his neck on the line but he was bound and determined to take some other people down with him. “Rent bigger machinery. Get more manpower. I don’t care what it takes.”
***
“I think there’s an error on this report.” Mr. Richter, the museum’s insurance agent, took his glasses off, wiped them down, and put them back on. The number under Current Mortality Count was still the same. “How many people have died to date?”
The foreman cleared his throat. “Ten workers. Seven hired directly by the museum and three men that I’ve worked with in the past and were brought in to help us get through this first stage.”
“And how exactly did they die? That part is not clear.”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” The insurance agent didn’t know if he wanted to keep up this line of questioning. From the sound of things, he was in for a lot of work just when he’d been instructed not to run up a lot of overtime hours.
“The coroner from Los Angeles hasn’t gotten back to us yet. I was instructed to put down natural causes on the official paperwork until she’s able to give us a full report on her findings.”
Mr. Richter squeezed his eyes shut. A headache was forming just behind his eyes at the thought of how much trouble this city already was for him. “Was it natural causes?”
The foreman saw where this was going and didn’t mind following. “Yes, I suppose it could have been.”
“Fine. Natural causes it is.” With that, Mr. Richter checked the appropriate boxes and signed all the appropriate lines. With any luck, this would be the last time he had to deal with Sunnydale.
***
“Ampata?”
The voice washed over her, a balm for her aching spirit. The pain in her body had grown so horrendous that she was simply past feeling it anymore. She would have turned her head at the sound if she had working muscles. She'd have looked around if there were eyes in her sockets.
“This shouldn’t hurt a bit but this is the first time I’ve ever tried this particular spell so I apologize in advance it if does.”
This time more than a voice washed over her. Heat, like a fire, burned through muscles and sinews that had become useless. This was like a kiss of life multiplied by a thousand. There was only the burn of energy with none of the bite of passing mortality. In essence, there was no shooter of death with this pint of healing.
She liked it. Very much. The first breath she drew into her working lungs was dusty but ever so wonderful. It smelled of decay and dirt. When she opened her eyes, a glow made them water. It was the purest light she had ever seen.
“Who are you?” Lips, teeth and tongue all worked together to form sound that ended up being words.
“I guess you don’t remember me.” A being, pale and perfect, moved within the light. Her smile made this situation seem incredibly right. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. Do you remember who you are?”
“The princess. No, not the princess anymore. Ampata.” The memories that name produced made her stomach feel funny. A good funny but still funny.
“Right. We called you Ampata. It was a case of mistaken identity but it’s still a nice name.”
Licking dry lips that tasted like stale rock and sediment, she tried again. “Ampata. That is who I am. Who are you, though? You’re so beautiful.”
“Well, aren’t you sweet. I’m Willow. Do you remember me? I’m Xander’s friend.”
Xander... she smiled at the name of the boy she had befriended the last time she was alive. “Where is he? Can I see him?”
“At this point in time, he's far from here. I know you want to see him again but that’s not possible. Not right now, at least. The goddess has given me the solution for a problem we’ve recently discovered in this time... I mean, where I’m from.”
“I’m the solution?” The last thing she felt like at the moment was a solution. Even with the infusion of life, she felt heavy and useless. “I think the goddess might have been wrong about that.”
“You know more than you think you do. We need help in cleansing the earth. You have the skills to help us.”
“Not forever. Right?” She shuddered thinking of the concept. In doing so, she ran into one side of her sarcophagus but not the other. Whatever had initially broken the shield that kept her bound in death had also broken her resting place. “Not forever?”
The light flickered as Willow shook her head. “Not forever. The goddess realizes that nothing can live forever without consequences. Just long enough to get the work done. Don’t worry, though. This place is still pretty messed up. You’ll be able to get your bearings before you move on. No one will bother you.”
Ampata pushed herself up to a sitting position. There was very little around her that she recognized in the rubble. There was slivers of light above her, a bit of blue giving her a tantalizing glimpse of freedom.
“How will I be helping the goddess?”
Willow’s bright light began flickering even more, each breath of air around it putting it in danger of going out. “I don’t have much time. You’ve already got plenty of survival skills and you’ll learn more along your journey. That’s the way of these things. Most of the vampires have been vaporized but, well, that leaves plenty of other baddies.”
“And they can be killed?”
“Sure. But you won’t be alone in this work. Others will come to help.”
Her ankles wobbled a bit as Ampata tried to stand again for the first time. “How will I know who the helpers are?”
“So many questions.” The bright aura quivering around Willow began to dim until there was just the barest hint of an outline where she’d been. Her voice seemed to be leaking from the crumbling stones creating this tiny enclosure. “You’ll know them by their eyes.”
***
For the last two mornings, an employee’s body was found broken and bruised at the edge of the broken city. The coroner from L.A. had started to make the drive every morning on the off chance that she was needed. Each and every time, she listed the death as Natural Causes. Try as she might, she couldn’t find a reason for their deaths. Yes, there were bruises and broken bones, but they weren’t the cause of the death. In most cases, the bodies had been mutilated after death. The police had been brought in but they hadn’t discovered any reason for the deaths or found a lead on anyone who might have done the deed. A lone guard was brought in for the site but he was more interested in getting his daily supply of doughnuts and coffee to be much help.
To add insult to injury, none of the machinery that had been brought in was able to do the job, but just when the museum team was about to give up on ever being able to move enough rock to get to their desired spot, another earthquake gave them some hope.
“Yes, Dr. Franks, we’ll start working again as soon as the experts tell us it’s safe enough.” The foreman held the phone away from his ear in an attempt to save his hearing. “The contracts say we can’t work the crews if it isn’t deemed safe. That’s just proper procedure. Nothing I can do about.”
This time he didn’t even try to understand the rant coming from clear across the country. All he could do was nod and wait for a break in the screams of rage. “Yes, sir. Yes, yes. We’ll begin work tomorrow. Right, sir. We’ll begin work immediately.”
***
Slayer, come forth.
The command was undeniable, sweeping through Kendra’s consciousness so that there was no denying she was the one who was being called forth. It had been nice not being alive. Not like she thought it would be after hearing the stories of her childhood, the stuff of nightmares that had haunted her every dream.
When she had died, all those fears had died with her. All the hate had evaporated. There was no need for her to be a Slayer anymore; there was no need for her to be afraid. The death had been complete, another of her fears when the female vampire had started her incantation. To be turned into one of the undead was a fate worse than any death, however painful it might be.
Slayer, open your eyes/
She obeyed, taking in her first breath as she surveyed her surroundings. At first she thought it was a cave but then she realized that it was a room. No, not a room. Not anymore. The roof had caved in, leaving only this little cave.
“Where am I?” Something was familiar but it was hard to pinpoint what it might be in the gloom and dust. “Where is this place?”
You are at the beginning of this journey where you ended the last.
The rubble under her hands wasn’t rock but books, their stamped titles imprinting into her flesh. At her back was the shell of a wooden bookcase. Without thinking, she put her hand to her throat as if to feel for the incision where her life-force had leaked out. There was nothing there to show that she had been so fearsomely wounded.
“Why did you bring me back here? I died a good death. Don’t I deserve my rest?”
Yes, my sister. You died a good death. But there is work to be done. The Slayer’s power has been loosened. You are needed once again.
“And if I do not accept?” She wanted to cry with this new realization that she had been pulled from her final rest to fight once again. Death had been hard enough the first time.
You are a Slayer. You know that it is not as easy as saying Yay or Nay. This has been decided from the beginning. You are needed for this fight, Slayer.
There was no way she could fight with destiny, even if she felt that it was wrong. All of her early training had prepared her for this exact moment. That it had happened to her twice was not to be considered. She was a Slayer. There was no other way for her path to go.
She felt for her stake but it was gone. A memory tickled at the fringes of her mind. Buffy had Mr. Pointy now. All the time and care she had put into the instrument of destruction was helping out another Slayer now.
“I will need a weapon,” she reminded the voice.
Of course. You will find it when the time is right. For now, sleep. Your way will be clear when you awake.
***
Ampata had killed four demons by her third night in the museum. Instead of quick and painless deaths, she had toyed with them as she struggled to see their eyes. Willow’s last words haunted her even now. What was she supposed to look for in the eyes of those who found her? The demons she had killed had looked at her with hate. Even if those were the ones she was supposed to depend on, she wouldn’t have wanted them. Hate wasn’t something she wanted to be around right now.
While searching for something that might be useful in destroying these wandering demons that seemed to be patrolling the ruined city, she’d come across a room full of silver. If it could be made out of silver and put on display, it was. Some of it was weapon-like but mostly she liked it because it was pretty. Her eye was snagged by a simple but beautiful silver bracelet that reminded her of the jewelry she’d been buried with. It was a tie to her past that she hadn’t expected to find.
Her other find was an office with a cot, complete with a blanket and pillow. There was little debris in this area of the building thanks to some amazing architecture. Just past the office was a room with running water, a hot plate and a machine full of the most wonderful snacks. Each time she ate a Twinkie, she thought of Xander. With any luck, she had enough Twinkies for another seven days. She liked the idea of having something to remember the boy who had wanted to save her. Her days with him were still a beautiful memory.
The last of the things she found was her greatest treasure. In the midst of a pile of glass that had once been a display case, she discovered the most fearsome of weapons. Steel and silver entwined through the hilt and the blade. The sword was thin and easy to handle but sliced through skin, bone and magic with an ease she hadn’t been prepared for.
From what she could gather, there were demon guards that moved through the city. She knew that her killings would not go unnoticed but there was nothing that could be done. The first few demons had found her by accident as she was exploring but the last two had come looking for her.
The museum would not be safe for long if she continued to be the only one fighting the demons that came after her. Soon they would send more than one at a time. Knowing this, she set up warning bells at every entrance to this untroubled area. If anyone came for her, they would not be able to come without notice.
The bells were silent for two days. On the third morning, she was toasting a cheese sandwich when the clattering began. Armed not only with the sword but several other sharpened silver instruments she’d been working on, Ampata went looking for her intruder.
“Damn and blast.” The curse echoed down the hallway. It didn’t sound like a demon but she wasn’t sure exactly what a demon might sound like. All the ones that had come for her hadn't been talkative.
The problem was that she had no idea who else might be in the ruined city. There could be other bands of humans roaming through whatever streets there might still remain and the relative safety of the museum might be too much for them to resist.
“Don’t come any closer,” Ampata warned from behind a pillar. From here she could see down two of the halls but there was a third that was at her back. It troubled her that she was not able to see down all of them at the same time. Once again, if more than one threat came at her at a time and chose different paths, she would be unlikely to stop the threat.
“I’ve come looking for Ampata,” was the answer. The noise continued, a tinkling of glass, but she could still hear the muttered curses.
“Why?”
“Because I was told to come to the museum in Sunnydale and find her. I can help.”
Ampata considered this for a moment. She tightened her grip on the sword as she tried to figure out the sincerity of the words. “Who are you? What makes you think you can help me?”
“Nikki Woods. I am... I was... no, I am a Slayer. Sorry. It’s still a new concept for me to be alive. I was sent by the goddess. She said you would know who she is.”
The presence of a Slayer calmed her somehow but she still needed to figure out how to get close enough to the girl to see her eyes. If she didn’t, all she had was the word of a stranger.
“Come forward,” she called after much indecision. If they both stayed where they were, there would be a standstill. The longer she was in this hall, the more chance of more demons showing up.
“I can’t. I’m stuck.”
It was a break for her, Ampata realized. It could have been a trap but she still had the advantage of knowing the layout of the museum. As she crept forward, she turned around constantly to make sure she wasn’t being followed. It would be bad to caught in the area she was headed for as there were no other side halls or rooms where she might be able to hide.
When she looked around the corner, she could tell that the Slayer really was stuck. The sheet of glass that she’s propped up against the wall had shattered, as expected, but some of the resulting shards had embedded into the walls and floor in a prison around the Slayer. One of them had ripped through her sweater, pinning her to the soft wood of the floor.
“Help me.” It was a command, not a plea for help.
Even though she knew in her gut that this woman was not going to hurt her, she still had to be sure. “Let me see your eyes.”
“What? My eyes? That’s a new one.”
“Just do it,” she growled, brandishing her sword.
“Fine.” She faced Ampata and opened her eyes wide. They were a dark brown with a black iris, very much like how eyes were supposed to look. All the demons that had come for her lately had either red irises or were completely black. These were definitely the eyes of a human, although she still wasn’t sure they were the eyes of a friend.
You will know them by their eyes.
It was as good a place as any to start. Ampata reached out her hand, still keeping a good grasp on her sword in the other. She wasn’t going to let her guard now, no matter that Willow’s voice was reverberating through her skull.
***
“Mr. Richards, I have the best crew possible-”
“The best?” The voice on the other side of the phone dripped with menace. Dr. Jonas Franks hated making this particular call but there was nothing he could do about it. Once a day, every day, he called the foreman and yelled. Right after that, he put in a call to the man who was really in charge and listened.
He swallowed convulsively as he tried to figure out the best answer. No, that wasn’t right. He was trying to figure out the answer that wouldn’t get him killed. “The very best at what they do, yes.”
“Then why don’t you have a mummy on the way across country to your facility? Or maybe you do and you’ve failed to give me that information.”
“No, sir. We haven’t found it yet.”
“Then how are the best people on the job? Have you received the coordinates I sent you? We were able to pinpoint the exact location using satellite tracking devices. You should concentrate your efforts there.”
Jonas struggled to find the right buttons to take him to his email account. He vaguely remembered seeing something from Wolfram & Hart but he hadn’t taken the time to read through it all the way. That was never wise but he’d had so many other things to think about of late.
“We’ll do that, sir. Right away.”
There was smug silence on the other end of the line. It was enough to make Jonas wish he had the guts to hang up on the man. Instead, he waited to be allowed to hang up.
“Very well. I expect results, Doctor. This has gone on too long. I want that mummy in your museum by the end of the week. I’ve got other things I would like to worry about then this little project. But if you don’t find her, the loss will come out of your paycheck.”
***
There were more things to worry about in the sewers than oversized monsters. Kendra had stopped trying to kill everything in her path and concentrated on finding places to hide instead. It went against everything in her Slayer’s soul but the demons roaming around were beginning to bunch up in packs of three or four. While she loved to kill the undead, she had to live to find the girl she was supposed to protect. With any luck, they’d be able to find a safe way out of the city and start out for Cleveland before this place was overrun.
She held her breath as a particularly smelly demon walked past. The thing looked like a little girl but smelled like rotten meat. When they looked like children, she found it the hardest to kill them. Not impossible, she thought as she jumped out of the shadows. Just harder than others to kill.
As she wiped the blood from her knife, she tried not to let the smell overwhelm her. This time the rotting meat smell combined with the sweet tang of blood and the ashy scent of death was nearly enough to send her to her knees. She didn’t know if it was just the putrid odor or the fact that she hadn’t eaten lately that was making her so queasy. Whatever it was, it was only fueling her fire to find her charge and leave this place.
“Boss wants this place cleared out by tomorrow.”
The words echoed off the cavernous pipe, sending Kendra sprinting for her hiding place. Unless this newest arrival was talking to himself, this was a threat of numbers. The constant reminder of her mission and the scent of blood still lingering in the air kept her silent as the shadows began to creep up the wall. Ten beings, a few carrying torches, were coming around the bend.
“We work until the job is done. No sleeping, no eating, not messing around. Simple kills. Nothing is to be left alive. If it’s here in this pile of rocks, we kill it.”
“If it’s holding a sandwich, can we eat the sandwich after we kill it?”
Kendra peered around the edge of the wall as a scuffle ensued. One of the men had another by the throat as the others ringed around them. It was all very calm, as if they were watching two men exchanging nothing more than a greeting. The lack of emotion on any of the faces froze Kendra in place. These were not just large men out on a strange clean up job. Each one of them had greenish skin with strange slits where their ears and eyes should have been.
“We kill them all,” the leader restated, shaking the creature above him to make his point. When he felt he’d done it enough, he sat the strange thing back on his feet. “The boss says kill them all. Above and below. No one is to be left alive.”
They all nodded as they got back into formation, a silent mob bent on destruction. As she watched them go past her shadowed alcove, she wondered what kind of boss could control demons and send them out to do their bidding.
***
Ampata concentrated on not spilling a drop of the hot tea as she walked back to where the Slayer was nursing her wounds. She was trying, in her way, to make amends. Never had she ever gotten food for anyone else, let alone tried to serve it to them.
“As soon as I get cleaned up, we’ll head out,” the Slayer, who had introduced herself as Nikki, was saying as she attempted to clean the blood off her neck. “There might be more of those patrols and I don’t want to be holed up here if they decide to come back.”
The thought of leaving these rooms with their amenities and security frightened Ampata more than she liked to admit. If it had been up to her, she would have been quite content to stay here at least until her Twinkie supply had dwindled down.
“Where will we go?” It made her happy that her voice didn’t quiver as she asked her question.
“I was told we should head to Cleveland.” Nikki was looking at her out of the corner of her eye, assessing how she was handling all this information that she had been told but refused to say who had done the telling. “To my son.”
“You have a son? But you are… are so young.”
Nikki rubbed a hand over her cheek. “This isn’t what I’ve always looked like. Looks like I’m walking around in a loaner. I… died.”
“As did I! I’ve been dead for centuries. Isn’t it marvelous to be alive once again?” The other woman didn’t appear to find it as wonderful as she did. “We have been given another chance.”
“At what? Fighting vampires and demons until they get the job done a second time? No thank you. I’m only doing this because I’ll get to see my son again.” She smiled at the thought, new emotion transforming her face into a thing of beauty. “He’s a grown man now. I never thought I’d get to see the day.”
There was a banging from the hallway. All the tea that had taken Ampata so long to brew ended up in a puddle on the floor as they both jumped at the sound. “Intruders,” Ampata whispered, her spirit filling with dread at having to fight again so soon after vanquishing the last group.
“This is why we need to leave here. We could be caught unaware-“ Nikki lifted her head as a new fragrance came to her. “Slayer,” she whispered.
“What?”
“There’s another Slayer out there.”
Ampata tried to smell what the other one could so obviously smell. There was nothing out of place, as far as she could tell. It was strange to be missing something so obviously important to the situation. She didn’t like her sense of apprehension wasn’t eased by the other woman being able to sense a Slayer by using her nose.
“You smell her?”
“Just as you were told you would know me by my eyes, I was given the ability to smell other Slayers. I don’t know why it was this sense that was heightened but I can smell another Slayer out there. Better we go find her before she’s threatened by any other panes of glass you might have out there.”
***
The foreman met the coroner as she pulled up the edge of the work site. He was holding all the paperwork, most of it done in triplicate, that she would need for these new deaths. “I got creative on the causes of death,” he told her as she slid out into the bright sunshine, waving the papers up and down as if he wanted to keep her cool.
There was something odd about his eyes but she’d been trained to be professional when it came to these extra special duties. The man had been through a lot in the last week. Not only was he working at a frantic pace but he’d lost nearly half of the crew that he’d started with. It was enough to send anyone over the edge. She would forgive him his wild eyes and erratic gestures.
“Getting tired of using Natural Causes, are you?”
“It’s not natural what killed them. Well, maybe it is natural in a place like this. It’s strange but I call it home.”
“You’re from here?”
“Nope. I’m from Montana. One way or another, I’m never getting back there, though.” He began to laugh. “Either this job will kill me or my boss will. Maybe one of those things will get me instead. Doesn’t matter. I’m not going to make it back to Big Sky Country.”
She crossed her arms, suddenly concerned for this man’s wellbeing. “What are those things? Have you seen one? Did you see it kill one of your crew?”
“Demons,” he hissed. His breath was hot on her cheek as he leaned in close but she didn’t back away from him. Now was not the time to be intimidated. “They’re demons. It’s the only answer.”
“Demons are killing your crew?”
The foreman nodded. “It’s the only answer that makes sense. Killing my men. Killing me. Killing time. It’s all going to be end up gone before we know it. I don’t even think there was a mummy. It was all made up so that we could be here for them to feed on. We’re just fodder in the wind.” He let go of the papers, letting the breeze carry them away. “Look! Fodder!”
She grabbed at the papers fluttering to the ground. Before this got completely out of control, she was going to collect her newest bodies and head back to the sanctuary of Los Angeles where things were strange but no one saw demons on every street corner.
And next time there was a death, she decided, Murphy could come do the dirty work. She was washing her hands of Sunnydale.
***
“Get what you need but not more than you carry on your back,” Kendra instructed the women who were staring at her as if she was crazy. Well, not crazy. But she hadn’t given them any warning before she started yelling instructions from her position at the end of the hallway. She’d encountered one obstacle and knew there were more. Better to let them come to her.
“But my Twinkies-“
“No. That stuff will kill you. Get your clothes. Do you have a blanket? Grab that. We’ve got a thirty minute window to get to our ride out of here before this place is swarmed with demons.”
Without another word, the girl with a sweet tooth turned and went back into the room they’d come out of. The tall one sized her up.
“You’re a Slayer.”
It wasn’t a question but Kendra nodded. “As are you. I can smell you from here.”
“I’m Nikki. We need to go to-“
“Cleveland. I know. I’m to protect the girl.”
Nikki’s chin went up, her eyes flashing fire at being left out of the equation. “I’ve already protected her. What do we need you for?”
“I’m our way out of here.” She tilted her head to the side to get a different view of things. It always helped to clear her head when there was too much to think about. “Unless you have a plan already. Feel free to act on it if you have one. I’ll follow along as back up.”
There was no sound for the space of five heartbeats. Kendra was beginning to think that Nikki might not let her rescue them after all. It was hard to stand here, doing nothing, while she waited but it would be rude not to let the other woman consider her offer.
“Did they tell you why we are going to Cleveland?” she finally asked.
“I was told to deliver the girl there. After that, I could stay and fight or find my own way.” Kendra shrugged. “I don’t have much else calling me so I will probably stay.”
“My son’s there.”
“Then we will go fight with your son, Nikki. And I am Kendra. Come, we have little time. Is the other one coming or should we go drag her away by her hair?”
***
There was little room in the official coroner’s van after all the bodies were packed inside. The paperwork was filled out properly and all was ready. Still there was something that kept her from putting the car into gear. A strange sense of awareness. This was like no other horrific accident that she’d ever seen before. It was completely… dead.
As a coroner, she’d encountered death but this was on such a large scale. There was nothing living here. Nothing at all. The foreman was right. The crew would die here. If she didn’t leave right this minute, she would most likely die as well.
And still she stayed parked where she was, at the edge of a precipice into Hell.
***
“This way,” Kendra hissed. Her pockets were full with silver knickknacks but she’d agreed with Ampata that it might be wise to have them along. Silver went a long way to messing up a demon. Most were not killed by it but they could be slowed down.
The scent of demons was heavy along these mazes of boulder and sand. It was amazing that they hadn’t been noticed yet but every group of demons that passed seemed intent on a destination and not on searching out random shadows for a meal. They were close to the border of rubble but there was still the trip out of the hole. The two choices were climbing a sheer wall of rock or using the winding track that the demons had used. Not only was it well traveled, but it was out in the open. Nothing, not even a shrub, would shield them as they attempted to climb out.
“Another group is coming from this side of us,” Nikki whispered over her shoulder. “We’ll be trapped if we don’t move soon.”
Through their trip from the museum to this point, Ampata hadn’t said a word. She’d let the Slayers move her about like a piece on a chess board, never giving impute or moving without being prodded to first. She raised her eyes to the clouds that had blown in to hide the sun, her lips curved into a smile.
“Today is a good day for a journey. I can feel the gods telling us this. They will shelter us as they do the sun. Come, my friends. We should run.”
Without waiting to see if she was being followed, Ampata began running for the trail. Kendra let out a yelp of surprise as her charge moved out of her reach. Since it would be unwise to yell after her to stop, thus drawing undue attention on them all, she started running as well.
Nikki was frozen in place, the stench of demons thick in her nostrils. When she was almost halfway to the foot of the winding path, Kendra looked around for the other Slayer. Her back felt naked, as if she no longer had anyone watching for something that might come along and decide to sink a knife into her exposed flesh.
A rush of sound to her left gave her pause. She moved to face the new threat, her knife posed where it could do the most damage if she was rushed. “Run, Ampata,” she yelled toward the girl who had stopped to see what the danger was. “Run to the top. I will meet you there.”
“You can’t overrun my work site, demon scum!”
Ampata watched as a man came rushing at her. He wore a yellow, domed hat that gave away his position even in the shadows. An orange vest, tattered and splotched with blood, hung from his shoulders but, other than that, he wore no other clothes. It had been quite some time since she’d seen a naked man and it made her pause. This wasn’t a demon but neither was it someone coming in peace.
“I’m not a demon,” she yelled back at him. “Stop there and I’ll let you live.”
He didn’t seem to hear her as he rushed forward. It had been hard enough killing the demons in human guises that she didn’t know if she could kill a human. The agony of such a killing would weigh on her soul but it looked as if she had no choice.
“Stop.” She watched, helplessly, as he kept coming. His only weapon was a hand held radio, the plastic antenna sharpened to a wicked point. It wasn’t enough to kill but he looked as if he’d done some damage, considering all the blood on his body.
As he came closer, she saw that the blood was most likely his own. Gashes ran along his legs and middle. Whatever he had encountered had put up a fight but still he came at her as if he was fresh and new.
“No, you don’t,” Nikki roared as she ran from the shadows. She threw one of the larger silver brooches that she had attached to her sweater, barely stopping to see if it landed where she’d intended before she pulled out another. Each one landed, four in all, but none of them deterred the man from his target. He was as intent on Kendra as he had been when he started, completely ignoring Nikki.
But Nikki wasn’t going to let him ignore her. She reached him just as he made his last surge toward Kendra. The three of them went down in a twist of legs and arms and dangerous weapons. Kendra attempted not to thrash about too much since she didn’t know who she might injure. Nikki didn’t seem to who might be hurt as she attempted to subdue the attacker.
“He’s human,” Kendra screamed, hoping to get Nikki’s attention.
There was a grunt of surprise before the scent of fresh blood made Kendra groan. She couldn’t control her reactions, vomiting up all the food that Ampata had forced on her before they began their journey. Each constriction of her stomach muscles put her in jeopardy but there was nothing she could do. Soon all three of them were coated in her bile but it had covered up the smell of the blood.
She rolled away from the still-writhing antagonists, laying flat on the rough stones until she knew for sure she wouldn’t retch if she tried to move again. The clouds were still covering the sun, a good sign. Now she just needed to get Nikki off the human and they could get moving once again.
Neither Nikki nor the human were moving when she looked up. That was not good. Not good, at all. Kendra rolled to her feet, suddenly worried about where that blood had come from. The human didn’t move when she kicked him. That might have been due to Nikki’s knife sticking out of his shoulder but it would have only been the last of his wounds. It wasn’t in the right place for a death blow.
“Nikki?” she called softly, pushing the man away so she could concentrate all her energies on the Slayer. “Nikki, are you alright?”
“Do I look alright? Your vomit is all over me.” Nikki refused to roll onto her back, instead staying hunched on her side. When Kendra tried, she only got a snarl for her efforts. “Leave me, Kendra. Get Ampata to safety. Tell Robin I love him. I’ll always love him.”
This time, worried by her words, Kendra tried harder to find a wound. The scent of blood was still ripe but the other stench was covering it enough for the moment. “No. I’m not going to tell your son that his mother died. You’re going to be fine. Today, everyone lives. Do you hear me? Everyone lives.”
“Not today, I think.” Nikki left herself be rolled over but still she cradled her middle. Fresh blood, rose red against the mocha of her skin, seeped through her fingers. The radio, a stupid weapon when she first saw it, was gripped tight in her fist so that the pointed antennae didn’t move too much from where it had been forced through her skin. “Go. Leave me to my fate.”
Acting on instinct, Kendra pulled at the radio. Yes, it was an open wound but it couldn’t be life threatening. Not today. Not under the clouds that Ampata claimed was a sign. “Everyone lives,” she muttered through gritted teeth as she through the useless plastic back into the shadows. With the last of her strength, she hauled the other Slayer to her feet and began the trek up the winding path.
***
“How far are we from the border, Anita?”
“Twelve minutes or so. Should we stop for dinner at the next gas station?“ The coroner checked the gauges on the van. They’d been making good time without all the dead bodies weighing down the rear end. Two days ago, while she waited to die, she’d decided to empty the van of its cargo. That had turned out to be a good idea because she was able to fit all three of the women into the van without trouble. After patching up their various wounds, she’d thrown out all the implements of the job so that it was just a van. At the first gas station, she’d bought some white paint and covered over the official insignia while Nikki had instructed Ampata on the best way to get a set of license plates without setting off any alarms.
All three of them looked at Nikki. She was the one who was the most anxious to be in Cleveland, but she nodded her head. “Dinner sounds good.”
Ampata smiled. “Hot dogs this time. I think we should have hot dogs.”
Everyone groaned but no one was about to deny the girl her junk food fix. Anita smiled, just glad to be alive. It was true what they’d said that first day. Everybody lives. It was a nice motto for her new life. No more death. Just life. She could handle that.
Title: Everybody Lives
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters: Main - Ampata, Nikki, Kendra (all Slayers that died)
Word Count: 7031
Rating: PG-13
Author’s Note: This takes place sometime right after the collapse of Sunnydale but I’m taking some liberties with the timeline after that. According to the wiki, there were other bands of slayers other than the one that Buffy took with her to create chaos throughout Season 8 (the comic series). One of them is in Cleveland under the watchful eye of Robin Wood. It is highly unlikely that he got up there so quickly but, well, this is from my imagination and things move quickly up there. I’m also assuming that Los Angeles is the next closest big city to Sunnydale. Also, you like angst but that would go against the theme of this story. If you’d like, I can rewrite it with a different ending and call it Everyone Dies… Again. *grins*
Summary: The goddess, alive in Willow, knows that something has to change or the fight they are engaged in will be lost. Three people are brought back from death’s embrace at just the right moment so they can work together to bridge the gap that have been left unmanned by the other Slayers.
There was nothing and then there was something. A rain of dust, a fissure of sunlight and the horrible thirst that meant death was once again put on hold.
***
Only moments after the entire city of Sunnydale dropped below the Earth’s crust, the phones at the New York Museum of Natural Science began ringing off the hook. The traveling Inca Princess exhibit didn’t seem to have good luck when it visited California. Five years before, the mummy had disappeared for a short period of time, sending everyone back at the main office into a tail spin of worry and despair. Only after much deliberation and a change of security protocols was the exhibit allowed to go back to the Sunnydale Museum.
That, it now appeared, had been a mistake. The museum was near the center of town which meant it would be under the most rubble.
“Do what you have to so we can get her back,” Dr. Jonas Franks, the man who had made the fateful decision to let the exhibit travel back to Sunnydale, yelled into the phone. It was his neck on the line but he was bound and determined to take some other people down with him. “Rent bigger machinery. Get more manpower. I don’t care what it takes.”
***
“I think there’s an error on this report.” Mr. Richter, the museum’s insurance agent, took his glasses off, wiped them down, and put them back on. The number under Current Mortality Count was still the same. “How many people have died to date?”
The foreman cleared his throat. “Ten workers. Seven hired directly by the museum and three men that I’ve worked with in the past and were brought in to help us get through this first stage.”
“And how exactly did they die? That part is not clear.”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” The insurance agent didn’t know if he wanted to keep up this line of questioning. From the sound of things, he was in for a lot of work just when he’d been instructed not to run up a lot of overtime hours.
“The coroner from Los Angeles hasn’t gotten back to us yet. I was instructed to put down natural causes on the official paperwork until she’s able to give us a full report on her findings.”
Mr. Richter squeezed his eyes shut. A headache was forming just behind his eyes at the thought of how much trouble this city already was for him. “Was it natural causes?”
The foreman saw where this was going and didn’t mind following. “Yes, I suppose it could have been.”
“Fine. Natural causes it is.” With that, Mr. Richter checked the appropriate boxes and signed all the appropriate lines. With any luck, this would be the last time he had to deal with Sunnydale.
***
“Ampata?”
The voice washed over her, a balm for her aching spirit. The pain in her body had grown so horrendous that she was simply past feeling it anymore. She would have turned her head at the sound if she had working muscles. She'd have looked around if there were eyes in her sockets.
“This shouldn’t hurt a bit but this is the first time I’ve ever tried this particular spell so I apologize in advance it if does.”
This time more than a voice washed over her. Heat, like a fire, burned through muscles and sinews that had become useless. This was like a kiss of life multiplied by a thousand. There was only the burn of energy with none of the bite of passing mortality. In essence, there was no shooter of death with this pint of healing.
She liked it. Very much. The first breath she drew into her working lungs was dusty but ever so wonderful. It smelled of decay and dirt. When she opened her eyes, a glow made them water. It was the purest light she had ever seen.
“Who are you?” Lips, teeth and tongue all worked together to form sound that ended up being words.
“I guess you don’t remember me.” A being, pale and perfect, moved within the light. Her smile made this situation seem incredibly right. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. Do you remember who you are?”
“The princess. No, not the princess anymore. Ampata.” The memories that name produced made her stomach feel funny. A good funny but still funny.
“Right. We called you Ampata. It was a case of mistaken identity but it’s still a nice name.”
Licking dry lips that tasted like stale rock and sediment, she tried again. “Ampata. That is who I am. Who are you, though? You’re so beautiful.”
“Well, aren’t you sweet. I’m Willow. Do you remember me? I’m Xander’s friend.”
Xander... she smiled at the name of the boy she had befriended the last time she was alive. “Where is he? Can I see him?”
“At this point in time, he's far from here. I know you want to see him again but that’s not possible. Not right now, at least. The goddess has given me the solution for a problem we’ve recently discovered in this time... I mean, where I’m from.”
“I’m the solution?” The last thing she felt like at the moment was a solution. Even with the infusion of life, she felt heavy and useless. “I think the goddess might have been wrong about that.”
“You know more than you think you do. We need help in cleansing the earth. You have the skills to help us.”
“Not forever. Right?” She shuddered thinking of the concept. In doing so, she ran into one side of her sarcophagus but not the other. Whatever had initially broken the shield that kept her bound in death had also broken her resting place. “Not forever?”
The light flickered as Willow shook her head. “Not forever. The goddess realizes that nothing can live forever without consequences. Just long enough to get the work done. Don’t worry, though. This place is still pretty messed up. You’ll be able to get your bearings before you move on. No one will bother you.”
Ampata pushed herself up to a sitting position. There was very little around her that she recognized in the rubble. There was slivers of light above her, a bit of blue giving her a tantalizing glimpse of freedom.
“How will I be helping the goddess?”
Willow’s bright light began flickering even more, each breath of air around it putting it in danger of going out. “I don’t have much time. You’ve already got plenty of survival skills and you’ll learn more along your journey. That’s the way of these things. Most of the vampires have been vaporized but, well, that leaves plenty of other baddies.”
“And they can be killed?”
“Sure. But you won’t be alone in this work. Others will come to help.”
Her ankles wobbled a bit as Ampata tried to stand again for the first time. “How will I know who the helpers are?”
“So many questions.” The bright aura quivering around Willow began to dim until there was just the barest hint of an outline where she’d been. Her voice seemed to be leaking from the crumbling stones creating this tiny enclosure. “You’ll know them by their eyes.”
***
For the last two mornings, an employee’s body was found broken and bruised at the edge of the broken city. The coroner from L.A. had started to make the drive every morning on the off chance that she was needed. Each and every time, she listed the death as Natural Causes. Try as she might, she couldn’t find a reason for their deaths. Yes, there were bruises and broken bones, but they weren’t the cause of the death. In most cases, the bodies had been mutilated after death. The police had been brought in but they hadn’t discovered any reason for the deaths or found a lead on anyone who might have done the deed. A lone guard was brought in for the site but he was more interested in getting his daily supply of doughnuts and coffee to be much help.
To add insult to injury, none of the machinery that had been brought in was able to do the job, but just when the museum team was about to give up on ever being able to move enough rock to get to their desired spot, another earthquake gave them some hope.
“Yes, Dr. Franks, we’ll start working again as soon as the experts tell us it’s safe enough.” The foreman held the phone away from his ear in an attempt to save his hearing. “The contracts say we can’t work the crews if it isn’t deemed safe. That’s just proper procedure. Nothing I can do about.”
This time he didn’t even try to understand the rant coming from clear across the country. All he could do was nod and wait for a break in the screams of rage. “Yes, sir. Yes, yes. We’ll begin work tomorrow. Right, sir. We’ll begin work immediately.”
***
Slayer, come forth.
The command was undeniable, sweeping through Kendra’s consciousness so that there was no denying she was the one who was being called forth. It had been nice not being alive. Not like she thought it would be after hearing the stories of her childhood, the stuff of nightmares that had haunted her every dream.
When she had died, all those fears had died with her. All the hate had evaporated. There was no need for her to be a Slayer anymore; there was no need for her to be afraid. The death had been complete, another of her fears when the female vampire had started her incantation. To be turned into one of the undead was a fate worse than any death, however painful it might be.
Slayer, open your eyes/
She obeyed, taking in her first breath as she surveyed her surroundings. At first she thought it was a cave but then she realized that it was a room. No, not a room. Not anymore. The roof had caved in, leaving only this little cave.
“Where am I?” Something was familiar but it was hard to pinpoint what it might be in the gloom and dust. “Where is this place?”
You are at the beginning of this journey where you ended the last.
The rubble under her hands wasn’t rock but books, their stamped titles imprinting into her flesh. At her back was the shell of a wooden bookcase. Without thinking, she put her hand to her throat as if to feel for the incision where her life-force had leaked out. There was nothing there to show that she had been so fearsomely wounded.
“Why did you bring me back here? I died a good death. Don’t I deserve my rest?”
Yes, my sister. You died a good death. But there is work to be done. The Slayer’s power has been loosened. You are needed once again.
“And if I do not accept?” She wanted to cry with this new realization that she had been pulled from her final rest to fight once again. Death had been hard enough the first time.
You are a Slayer. You know that it is not as easy as saying Yay or Nay. This has been decided from the beginning. You are needed for this fight, Slayer.
There was no way she could fight with destiny, even if she felt that it was wrong. All of her early training had prepared her for this exact moment. That it had happened to her twice was not to be considered. She was a Slayer. There was no other way for her path to go.
She felt for her stake but it was gone. A memory tickled at the fringes of her mind. Buffy had Mr. Pointy now. All the time and care she had put into the instrument of destruction was helping out another Slayer now.
“I will need a weapon,” she reminded the voice.
Of course. You will find it when the time is right. For now, sleep. Your way will be clear when you awake.
***
Ampata had killed four demons by her third night in the museum. Instead of quick and painless deaths, she had toyed with them as she struggled to see their eyes. Willow’s last words haunted her even now. What was she supposed to look for in the eyes of those who found her? The demons she had killed had looked at her with hate. Even if those were the ones she was supposed to depend on, she wouldn’t have wanted them. Hate wasn’t something she wanted to be around right now.
While searching for something that might be useful in destroying these wandering demons that seemed to be patrolling the ruined city, she’d come across a room full of silver. If it could be made out of silver and put on display, it was. Some of it was weapon-like but mostly she liked it because it was pretty. Her eye was snagged by a simple but beautiful silver bracelet that reminded her of the jewelry she’d been buried with. It was a tie to her past that she hadn’t expected to find.
Her other find was an office with a cot, complete with a blanket and pillow. There was little debris in this area of the building thanks to some amazing architecture. Just past the office was a room with running water, a hot plate and a machine full of the most wonderful snacks. Each time she ate a Twinkie, she thought of Xander. With any luck, she had enough Twinkies for another seven days. She liked the idea of having something to remember the boy who had wanted to save her. Her days with him were still a beautiful memory.
The last of the things she found was her greatest treasure. In the midst of a pile of glass that had once been a display case, she discovered the most fearsome of weapons. Steel and silver entwined through the hilt and the blade. The sword was thin and easy to handle but sliced through skin, bone and magic with an ease she hadn’t been prepared for.
From what she could gather, there were demon guards that moved through the city. She knew that her killings would not go unnoticed but there was nothing that could be done. The first few demons had found her by accident as she was exploring but the last two had come looking for her.
The museum would not be safe for long if she continued to be the only one fighting the demons that came after her. Soon they would send more than one at a time. Knowing this, she set up warning bells at every entrance to this untroubled area. If anyone came for her, they would not be able to come without notice.
The bells were silent for two days. On the third morning, she was toasting a cheese sandwich when the clattering began. Armed not only with the sword but several other sharpened silver instruments she’d been working on, Ampata went looking for her intruder.
“Damn and blast.” The curse echoed down the hallway. It didn’t sound like a demon but she wasn’t sure exactly what a demon might sound like. All the ones that had come for her hadn't been talkative.
The problem was that she had no idea who else might be in the ruined city. There could be other bands of humans roaming through whatever streets there might still remain and the relative safety of the museum might be too much for them to resist.
“Don’t come any closer,” Ampata warned from behind a pillar. From here she could see down two of the halls but there was a third that was at her back. It troubled her that she was not able to see down all of them at the same time. Once again, if more than one threat came at her at a time and chose different paths, she would be unlikely to stop the threat.
“I’ve come looking for Ampata,” was the answer. The noise continued, a tinkling of glass, but she could still hear the muttered curses.
“Why?”
“Because I was told to come to the museum in Sunnydale and find her. I can help.”
Ampata considered this for a moment. She tightened her grip on the sword as she tried to figure out the sincerity of the words. “Who are you? What makes you think you can help me?”
“Nikki Woods. I am... I was... no, I am a Slayer. Sorry. It’s still a new concept for me to be alive. I was sent by the goddess. She said you would know who she is.”
The presence of a Slayer calmed her somehow but she still needed to figure out how to get close enough to the girl to see her eyes. If she didn’t, all she had was the word of a stranger.
“Come forward,” she called after much indecision. If they both stayed where they were, there would be a standstill. The longer she was in this hall, the more chance of more demons showing up.
“I can’t. I’m stuck.”
It was a break for her, Ampata realized. It could have been a trap but she still had the advantage of knowing the layout of the museum. As she crept forward, she turned around constantly to make sure she wasn’t being followed. It would be bad to caught in the area she was headed for as there were no other side halls or rooms where she might be able to hide.
When she looked around the corner, she could tell that the Slayer really was stuck. The sheet of glass that she’s propped up against the wall had shattered, as expected, but some of the resulting shards had embedded into the walls and floor in a prison around the Slayer. One of them had ripped through her sweater, pinning her to the soft wood of the floor.
“Help me.” It was a command, not a plea for help.
Even though she knew in her gut that this woman was not going to hurt her, she still had to be sure. “Let me see your eyes.”
“What? My eyes? That’s a new one.”
“Just do it,” she growled, brandishing her sword.
“Fine.” She faced Ampata and opened her eyes wide. They were a dark brown with a black iris, very much like how eyes were supposed to look. All the demons that had come for her lately had either red irises or were completely black. These were definitely the eyes of a human, although she still wasn’t sure they were the eyes of a friend.
You will know them by their eyes.
It was as good a place as any to start. Ampata reached out her hand, still keeping a good grasp on her sword in the other. She wasn’t going to let her guard now, no matter that Willow’s voice was reverberating through her skull.
***
“Mr. Richards, I have the best crew possible-”
“The best?” The voice on the other side of the phone dripped with menace. Dr. Jonas Franks hated making this particular call but there was nothing he could do about it. Once a day, every day, he called the foreman and yelled. Right after that, he put in a call to the man who was really in charge and listened.
He swallowed convulsively as he tried to figure out the best answer. No, that wasn’t right. He was trying to figure out the answer that wouldn’t get him killed. “The very best at what they do, yes.”
“Then why don’t you have a mummy on the way across country to your facility? Or maybe you do and you’ve failed to give me that information.”
“No, sir. We haven’t found it yet.”
“Then how are the best people on the job? Have you received the coordinates I sent you? We were able to pinpoint the exact location using satellite tracking devices. You should concentrate your efforts there.”
Jonas struggled to find the right buttons to take him to his email account. He vaguely remembered seeing something from Wolfram & Hart but he hadn’t taken the time to read through it all the way. That was never wise but he’d had so many other things to think about of late.
“We’ll do that, sir. Right away.”
There was smug silence on the other end of the line. It was enough to make Jonas wish he had the guts to hang up on the man. Instead, he waited to be allowed to hang up.
“Very well. I expect results, Doctor. This has gone on too long. I want that mummy in your museum by the end of the week. I’ve got other things I would like to worry about then this little project. But if you don’t find her, the loss will come out of your paycheck.”
***
There were more things to worry about in the sewers than oversized monsters. Kendra had stopped trying to kill everything in her path and concentrated on finding places to hide instead. It went against everything in her Slayer’s soul but the demons roaming around were beginning to bunch up in packs of three or four. While she loved to kill the undead, she had to live to find the girl she was supposed to protect. With any luck, they’d be able to find a safe way out of the city and start out for Cleveland before this place was overrun.
She held her breath as a particularly smelly demon walked past. The thing looked like a little girl but smelled like rotten meat. When they looked like children, she found it the hardest to kill them. Not impossible, she thought as she jumped out of the shadows. Just harder than others to kill.
As she wiped the blood from her knife, she tried not to let the smell overwhelm her. This time the rotting meat smell combined with the sweet tang of blood and the ashy scent of death was nearly enough to send her to her knees. She didn’t know if it was just the putrid odor or the fact that she hadn’t eaten lately that was making her so queasy. Whatever it was, it was only fueling her fire to find her charge and leave this place.
“Boss wants this place cleared out by tomorrow.”
The words echoed off the cavernous pipe, sending Kendra sprinting for her hiding place. Unless this newest arrival was talking to himself, this was a threat of numbers. The constant reminder of her mission and the scent of blood still lingering in the air kept her silent as the shadows began to creep up the wall. Ten beings, a few carrying torches, were coming around the bend.
“We work until the job is done. No sleeping, no eating, not messing around. Simple kills. Nothing is to be left alive. If it’s here in this pile of rocks, we kill it.”
“If it’s holding a sandwich, can we eat the sandwich after we kill it?”
Kendra peered around the edge of the wall as a scuffle ensued. One of the men had another by the throat as the others ringed around them. It was all very calm, as if they were watching two men exchanging nothing more than a greeting. The lack of emotion on any of the faces froze Kendra in place. These were not just large men out on a strange clean up job. Each one of them had greenish skin with strange slits where their ears and eyes should have been.
“We kill them all,” the leader restated, shaking the creature above him to make his point. When he felt he’d done it enough, he sat the strange thing back on his feet. “The boss says kill them all. Above and below. No one is to be left alive.”
They all nodded as they got back into formation, a silent mob bent on destruction. As she watched them go past her shadowed alcove, she wondered what kind of boss could control demons and send them out to do their bidding.
***
Ampata concentrated on not spilling a drop of the hot tea as she walked back to where the Slayer was nursing her wounds. She was trying, in her way, to make amends. Never had she ever gotten food for anyone else, let alone tried to serve it to them.
“As soon as I get cleaned up, we’ll head out,” the Slayer, who had introduced herself as Nikki, was saying as she attempted to clean the blood off her neck. “There might be more of those patrols and I don’t want to be holed up here if they decide to come back.”
The thought of leaving these rooms with their amenities and security frightened Ampata more than she liked to admit. If it had been up to her, she would have been quite content to stay here at least until her Twinkie supply had dwindled down.
“Where will we go?” It made her happy that her voice didn’t quiver as she asked her question.
“I was told we should head to Cleveland.” Nikki was looking at her out of the corner of her eye, assessing how she was handling all this information that she had been told but refused to say who had done the telling. “To my son.”
“You have a son? But you are… are so young.”
Nikki rubbed a hand over her cheek. “This isn’t what I’ve always looked like. Looks like I’m walking around in a loaner. I… died.”
“As did I! I’ve been dead for centuries. Isn’t it marvelous to be alive once again?” The other woman didn’t appear to find it as wonderful as she did. “We have been given another chance.”
“At what? Fighting vampires and demons until they get the job done a second time? No thank you. I’m only doing this because I’ll get to see my son again.” She smiled at the thought, new emotion transforming her face into a thing of beauty. “He’s a grown man now. I never thought I’d get to see the day.”
There was a banging from the hallway. All the tea that had taken Ampata so long to brew ended up in a puddle on the floor as they both jumped at the sound. “Intruders,” Ampata whispered, her spirit filling with dread at having to fight again so soon after vanquishing the last group.
“This is why we need to leave here. We could be caught unaware-“ Nikki lifted her head as a new fragrance came to her. “Slayer,” she whispered.
“What?”
“There’s another Slayer out there.”
Ampata tried to smell what the other one could so obviously smell. There was nothing out of place, as far as she could tell. It was strange to be missing something so obviously important to the situation. She didn’t like her sense of apprehension wasn’t eased by the other woman being able to sense a Slayer by using her nose.
“You smell her?”
“Just as you were told you would know me by my eyes, I was given the ability to smell other Slayers. I don’t know why it was this sense that was heightened but I can smell another Slayer out there. Better we go find her before she’s threatened by any other panes of glass you might have out there.”
***
The foreman met the coroner as she pulled up the edge of the work site. He was holding all the paperwork, most of it done in triplicate, that she would need for these new deaths. “I got creative on the causes of death,” he told her as she slid out into the bright sunshine, waving the papers up and down as if he wanted to keep her cool.
There was something odd about his eyes but she’d been trained to be professional when it came to these extra special duties. The man had been through a lot in the last week. Not only was he working at a frantic pace but he’d lost nearly half of the crew that he’d started with. It was enough to send anyone over the edge. She would forgive him his wild eyes and erratic gestures.
“Getting tired of using Natural Causes, are you?”
“It’s not natural what killed them. Well, maybe it is natural in a place like this. It’s strange but I call it home.”
“You’re from here?”
“Nope. I’m from Montana. One way or another, I’m never getting back there, though.” He began to laugh. “Either this job will kill me or my boss will. Maybe one of those things will get me instead. Doesn’t matter. I’m not going to make it back to Big Sky Country.”
She crossed her arms, suddenly concerned for this man’s wellbeing. “What are those things? Have you seen one? Did you see it kill one of your crew?”
“Demons,” he hissed. His breath was hot on her cheek as he leaned in close but she didn’t back away from him. Now was not the time to be intimidated. “They’re demons. It’s the only answer.”
“Demons are killing your crew?”
The foreman nodded. “It’s the only answer that makes sense. Killing my men. Killing me. Killing time. It’s all going to be end up gone before we know it. I don’t even think there was a mummy. It was all made up so that we could be here for them to feed on. We’re just fodder in the wind.” He let go of the papers, letting the breeze carry them away. “Look! Fodder!”
She grabbed at the papers fluttering to the ground. Before this got completely out of control, she was going to collect her newest bodies and head back to the sanctuary of Los Angeles where things were strange but no one saw demons on every street corner.
And next time there was a death, she decided, Murphy could come do the dirty work. She was washing her hands of Sunnydale.
***
“Get what you need but not more than you carry on your back,” Kendra instructed the women who were staring at her as if she was crazy. Well, not crazy. But she hadn’t given them any warning before she started yelling instructions from her position at the end of the hallway. She’d encountered one obstacle and knew there were more. Better to let them come to her.
“But my Twinkies-“
“No. That stuff will kill you. Get your clothes. Do you have a blanket? Grab that. We’ve got a thirty minute window to get to our ride out of here before this place is swarmed with demons.”
Without another word, the girl with a sweet tooth turned and went back into the room they’d come out of. The tall one sized her up.
“You’re a Slayer.”
It wasn’t a question but Kendra nodded. “As are you. I can smell you from here.”
“I’m Nikki. We need to go to-“
“Cleveland. I know. I’m to protect the girl.”
Nikki’s chin went up, her eyes flashing fire at being left out of the equation. “I’ve already protected her. What do we need you for?”
“I’m our way out of here.” She tilted her head to the side to get a different view of things. It always helped to clear her head when there was too much to think about. “Unless you have a plan already. Feel free to act on it if you have one. I’ll follow along as back up.”
There was no sound for the space of five heartbeats. Kendra was beginning to think that Nikki might not let her rescue them after all. It was hard to stand here, doing nothing, while she waited but it would be rude not to let the other woman consider her offer.
“Did they tell you why we are going to Cleveland?” she finally asked.
“I was told to deliver the girl there. After that, I could stay and fight or find my own way.” Kendra shrugged. “I don’t have much else calling me so I will probably stay.”
“My son’s there.”
“Then we will go fight with your son, Nikki. And I am Kendra. Come, we have little time. Is the other one coming or should we go drag her away by her hair?”
***
There was little room in the official coroner’s van after all the bodies were packed inside. The paperwork was filled out properly and all was ready. Still there was something that kept her from putting the car into gear. A strange sense of awareness. This was like no other horrific accident that she’d ever seen before. It was completely… dead.
As a coroner, she’d encountered death but this was on such a large scale. There was nothing living here. Nothing at all. The foreman was right. The crew would die here. If she didn’t leave right this minute, she would most likely die as well.
And still she stayed parked where she was, at the edge of a precipice into Hell.
***
“This way,” Kendra hissed. Her pockets were full with silver knickknacks but she’d agreed with Ampata that it might be wise to have them along. Silver went a long way to messing up a demon. Most were not killed by it but they could be slowed down.
The scent of demons was heavy along these mazes of boulder and sand. It was amazing that they hadn’t been noticed yet but every group of demons that passed seemed intent on a destination and not on searching out random shadows for a meal. They were close to the border of rubble but there was still the trip out of the hole. The two choices were climbing a sheer wall of rock or using the winding track that the demons had used. Not only was it well traveled, but it was out in the open. Nothing, not even a shrub, would shield them as they attempted to climb out.
“Another group is coming from this side of us,” Nikki whispered over her shoulder. “We’ll be trapped if we don’t move soon.”
Through their trip from the museum to this point, Ampata hadn’t said a word. She’d let the Slayers move her about like a piece on a chess board, never giving impute or moving without being prodded to first. She raised her eyes to the clouds that had blown in to hide the sun, her lips curved into a smile.
“Today is a good day for a journey. I can feel the gods telling us this. They will shelter us as they do the sun. Come, my friends. We should run.”
Without waiting to see if she was being followed, Ampata began running for the trail. Kendra let out a yelp of surprise as her charge moved out of her reach. Since it would be unwise to yell after her to stop, thus drawing undue attention on them all, she started running as well.
Nikki was frozen in place, the stench of demons thick in her nostrils. When she was almost halfway to the foot of the winding path, Kendra looked around for the other Slayer. Her back felt naked, as if she no longer had anyone watching for something that might come along and decide to sink a knife into her exposed flesh.
A rush of sound to her left gave her pause. She moved to face the new threat, her knife posed where it could do the most damage if she was rushed. “Run, Ampata,” she yelled toward the girl who had stopped to see what the danger was. “Run to the top. I will meet you there.”
“You can’t overrun my work site, demon scum!”
Ampata watched as a man came rushing at her. He wore a yellow, domed hat that gave away his position even in the shadows. An orange vest, tattered and splotched with blood, hung from his shoulders but, other than that, he wore no other clothes. It had been quite some time since she’d seen a naked man and it made her pause. This wasn’t a demon but neither was it someone coming in peace.
“I’m not a demon,” she yelled back at him. “Stop there and I’ll let you live.”
He didn’t seem to hear her as he rushed forward. It had been hard enough killing the demons in human guises that she didn’t know if she could kill a human. The agony of such a killing would weigh on her soul but it looked as if she had no choice.
“Stop.” She watched, helplessly, as he kept coming. His only weapon was a hand held radio, the plastic antenna sharpened to a wicked point. It wasn’t enough to kill but he looked as if he’d done some damage, considering all the blood on his body.
As he came closer, she saw that the blood was most likely his own. Gashes ran along his legs and middle. Whatever he had encountered had put up a fight but still he came at her as if he was fresh and new.
“No, you don’t,” Nikki roared as she ran from the shadows. She threw one of the larger silver brooches that she had attached to her sweater, barely stopping to see if it landed where she’d intended before she pulled out another. Each one landed, four in all, but none of them deterred the man from his target. He was as intent on Kendra as he had been when he started, completely ignoring Nikki.
But Nikki wasn’t going to let him ignore her. She reached him just as he made his last surge toward Kendra. The three of them went down in a twist of legs and arms and dangerous weapons. Kendra attempted not to thrash about too much since she didn’t know who she might injure. Nikki didn’t seem to who might be hurt as she attempted to subdue the attacker.
“He’s human,” Kendra screamed, hoping to get Nikki’s attention.
There was a grunt of surprise before the scent of fresh blood made Kendra groan. She couldn’t control her reactions, vomiting up all the food that Ampata had forced on her before they began their journey. Each constriction of her stomach muscles put her in jeopardy but there was nothing she could do. Soon all three of them were coated in her bile but it had covered up the smell of the blood.
She rolled away from the still-writhing antagonists, laying flat on the rough stones until she knew for sure she wouldn’t retch if she tried to move again. The clouds were still covering the sun, a good sign. Now she just needed to get Nikki off the human and they could get moving once again.
Neither Nikki nor the human were moving when she looked up. That was not good. Not good, at all. Kendra rolled to her feet, suddenly worried about where that blood had come from. The human didn’t move when she kicked him. That might have been due to Nikki’s knife sticking out of his shoulder but it would have only been the last of his wounds. It wasn’t in the right place for a death blow.
“Nikki?” she called softly, pushing the man away so she could concentrate all her energies on the Slayer. “Nikki, are you alright?”
“Do I look alright? Your vomit is all over me.” Nikki refused to roll onto her back, instead staying hunched on her side. When Kendra tried, she only got a snarl for her efforts. “Leave me, Kendra. Get Ampata to safety. Tell Robin I love him. I’ll always love him.”
This time, worried by her words, Kendra tried harder to find a wound. The scent of blood was still ripe but the other stench was covering it enough for the moment. “No. I’m not going to tell your son that his mother died. You’re going to be fine. Today, everyone lives. Do you hear me? Everyone lives.”
“Not today, I think.” Nikki left herself be rolled over but still she cradled her middle. Fresh blood, rose red against the mocha of her skin, seeped through her fingers. The radio, a stupid weapon when she first saw it, was gripped tight in her fist so that the pointed antennae didn’t move too much from where it had been forced through her skin. “Go. Leave me to my fate.”
Acting on instinct, Kendra pulled at the radio. Yes, it was an open wound but it couldn’t be life threatening. Not today. Not under the clouds that Ampata claimed was a sign. “Everyone lives,” she muttered through gritted teeth as she through the useless plastic back into the shadows. With the last of her strength, she hauled the other Slayer to her feet and began the trek up the winding path.
***
“How far are we from the border, Anita?”
“Twelve minutes or so. Should we stop for dinner at the next gas station?“ The coroner checked the gauges on the van. They’d been making good time without all the dead bodies weighing down the rear end. Two days ago, while she waited to die, she’d decided to empty the van of its cargo. That had turned out to be a good idea because she was able to fit all three of the women into the van without trouble. After patching up their various wounds, she’d thrown out all the implements of the job so that it was just a van. At the first gas station, she’d bought some white paint and covered over the official insignia while Nikki had instructed Ampata on the best way to get a set of license plates without setting off any alarms.
All three of them looked at Nikki. She was the one who was the most anxious to be in Cleveland, but she nodded her head. “Dinner sounds good.”
Ampata smiled. “Hot dogs this time. I think we should have hot dogs.”
Everyone groaned but no one was about to deny the girl her junk food fix. Anita smiled, just glad to be alive. It was true what they’d said that first day. Everybody lives. It was a nice motto for her new life. No more death. Just life. She could handle that.