Aug. 23 - Church Bells
Title: Church Bells
Author: 3am_moonlight
Crossover: BtVS / The Walking Dead (TV)
Rating: Gen / Teen.
Word Count: 1,576.
Timeline: Post-Chosen / TWD: 02x01 - What Lies Ahead.
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss and TWD belongs to whoever holds the copyright.
Summary: A church bell calls the faithfull to church and the Slayers go looking, hoping for monsters.
Author's Note: Follows ' Turn of Events', ' Let's Talk', ' Difficult Decisions', and ' The Second Herd'.
The next morning they risked a small fire to heat some of the canned goods they had found the day before. Buffy stood guard on top of the RV while the others ate their fill. It gave her an excellent overview of the area and made sure they would not be surprised by another herd if it should pass nearby. Faith took her place when she was done and Buffy quickly ate her own hot meal. Once they had finished they did another sweep of the cars in the traffic snarl, both to be thorough and to finish what the herd had interrupted the day before.
Once the scavenger hunt was completed they split the spoils between each person, and then put the rest in the cars and the RV for storage. The two Slayers had made sure everyone had a backpack or a bag where they had to keep their own basic necessities, such as water, food, medicine, clothes, and anything else they might need. People could get lost, get killed, or they could have the backpack or bag stolen, or simply lose it somewhere. So if everyone, including the children, had a little bit of everything they could still get by if the worst happened. At least for a while.
As they were about to separate to get into the various vehicles, they suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of church bells in the distance. It caused them to look at each other in confusion and, in some cases, incredulity. "Didn't the power go down everywhere?" Faith asked no one in particular.
"Maybe it's an old church and some fool thinks it's a good idea to ring the bells to call on the faithful, even if they are the walking dead."
The sad thing was there was probably someone out there who did that or had done it in the last couple of months. Still, they should check it out to see if there were any live people and if there were to make sure they'd stop calling the undead to them. Buffy met Faith's eyes across the circle they were standing in, "We need to go and see what that's about."
"The fuck you do!" Daryl cursed at her, "Some fool wants to invite the geeks to come around and listen to their preaching, that's their problem, not ours!" About half of the group agreed, but Rick and a few others looked thoughtful. "You're not agreeing to this." He looked at the group with disbelief and anger, but those who were unsure looked away from him.
Buffy understood his motivation for not wanting to get involved, but she was a Slayer and it was her duty to protect people from the monsters. Her fellow Slayer was itching for a fight and looked ready to take off into the trees in the direction of the bells. To be honest she wanted the fight as well. Allowing the herd to just stumble past had made her bloodlust peek out and the only way to appease it was to kill something.
"Faith and I will go and check it out, the rest of you can look over the maps we found to see if there's somewhere we might be able to live. Somewhere that's likely to be fortified enough to keep the dead out and preferably including a well and something we can live off of." To neither of their surprise none of them men would allow them to go off on their own. Never mind their fighting abilities and how the two of them had tried to teach everyone else self-defense and how to most effectively kill the biters. Of course not, they needed big, strong men to protect them. She saw Faith roll her eyes when they were looking the other way.
Five minutes later it was agreed that Daryl and T-Dog would join them as well as Andrea. The remaining four men would 'guard' the temporary camp while they were gone. None of them seemed to be under the impression that Carol, Lori, Jacqui, or Amy would be of any help if they were attacked. The unfortunate part was that they were probably right.
The five of them gathered some extra weapons in addition to what they already had on them, and then they began walking into the forest. The bells had stopped ringing by the time they set off, but they knew which direction the sound had come from so they were good as long as they didn't get too distracted and lost their focus and sense of direction.
It took them over 40 minutes to reach the small, wooden church, mainly because the two men didn't trust they knew which way to go. Which was annoying, but they would learn to trust their instincts in time. If they survived long enough.
"Well, fuck. You were right." Daryl said when he caught sight of the building and the surrounding grave markers. It was probably as close to an apology as they were going to get, so they accepted it and moved on. A sign by the road proclaimed it to be the Southern Baptist Church, with a smaller sign, written in red, saying 'welcome bikers!' in capital letters.
They walked across the graveyard, which made her feel strangely at ease while keeping a careful eye out for any shambling corpses. They neither saw nor heard anyone, dead or alive, but they ascended the 10 steps and stopped in front of the red double doors and waited for T-Dog to catch up to them. Meanwhile, the two women listened carefully for any sounds of people on the inside but got nothing. Daryl got ready with his crossbow aimed directly at the door and when he nodded Faith and Buffy each pushed their half of the door open while the hunter moved forward and inside.
The first thing Buffy noticed was the crucifix at the front of the church. It didn't fit as it was something dramatically out of place for a Baptist Church. The second was the three walkers sitting in the pews, all of whom turned when the doors opened and greeted them with hungry groans. She absently noted two of them were male and the third was a female with a rotted white chapel veil on her head. Or maybe it was something else lacy, she wasn't sure.
The corpses rose and shuffled out to the aisle where they were met by the two Slayers who used a knife to stab them in the forehead. Daryl shot the third in the head with one of his bolts, while T-Dog and Andrea kept watching for anyone approaching from the outside. Nothing else moved.
"There's no one alive in here so who rang the bell?" No one had any answers so they searched through the church and then through the annex but found no one alive, dead, or undead. The other half of the structure had a small kitchen, which included canned food, mostly soup, and other non-perishables. It even had half a dozen bottles of unopened water and a small assortment of spices.
In their search, they had come across three wheeled shopping bags and when they discovered the food they went back for them. T-Dog took the two largest ones and brought them back to the others. Faith and Buffy carefully loaded them with the edibles before they did a last inspection of the kitchen, and then they left.
T-Dog insisted on taking one while Faith took the other. Buffy, Daryl, and Andrea surrounded them in a V-formation with the hunter taking the lead and the two blonde women flanking the others where possible. The little group had just gotten back to the tree-line after having crossed the graveyard when the church bells suddenly started up again causing all of them to jump.
Buffy turned and ran back. Behind her Faith let go of the wheeled shopping bag and ran after her. Andrea screamed before she stopped herself by slapping her own hand over her mouth to dampen the sound, but she was frozen to the spot. When the two men began running she unfroze and followed. The two Slayers ran inside but the big, black man ran to the side of the building and a small black box on the wall. After pushing a few buttons the bells stopped and the only sound that could be heard was their breathing and the sound of nature around them.
Buffy and Faith jogged back outside when the noise stopped and discovered the others standing by the control box. "What happened?
"It's automated. The church bells must be on a timer, probably uses batteries." Faith eloquently rolled her eyes and stalked back to their catch.
It hadn't been a total waste of time, but there hadn't been anyone alive here either. The group up on the highway was guaranteed to be pleased with the additional food if nothing else. With any luck, none of the nearby herds had heard the church bells and were headed in this direction. So they got food and water, but not a real fight to appease their inner Slayer.
They began the long trek back to the road, trying not to make any unnecessary noise despite their wheeled bags. On the upside, neither of the men tried to dispute their sense of direction this time and they made it back about half an hour later with their precious cargo.
Author: 3am_moonlight
Crossover: BtVS / The Walking Dead (TV)
Rating: Gen / Teen.
Word Count: 1,576.
Timeline: Post-Chosen / TWD: 02x01 - What Lies Ahead.
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss and TWD belongs to whoever holds the copyright.
Summary: A church bell calls the faithfull to church and the Slayers go looking, hoping for monsters.
Author's Note: Follows ' Turn of Events', ' Let's Talk', ' Difficult Decisions', and ' The Second Herd'.
The next morning they risked a small fire to heat some of the canned goods they had found the day before. Buffy stood guard on top of the RV while the others ate their fill. It gave her an excellent overview of the area and made sure they would not be surprised by another herd if it should pass nearby. Faith took her place when she was done and Buffy quickly ate her own hot meal. Once they had finished they did another sweep of the cars in the traffic snarl, both to be thorough and to finish what the herd had interrupted the day before.
Once the scavenger hunt was completed they split the spoils between each person, and then put the rest in the cars and the RV for storage. The two Slayers had made sure everyone had a backpack or a bag where they had to keep their own basic necessities, such as water, food, medicine, clothes, and anything else they might need. People could get lost, get killed, or they could have the backpack or bag stolen, or simply lose it somewhere. So if everyone, including the children, had a little bit of everything they could still get by if the worst happened. At least for a while.
As they were about to separate to get into the various vehicles, they suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of church bells in the distance. It caused them to look at each other in confusion and, in some cases, incredulity. "Didn't the power go down everywhere?" Faith asked no one in particular.
"Maybe it's an old church and some fool thinks it's a good idea to ring the bells to call on the faithful, even if they are the walking dead."
The sad thing was there was probably someone out there who did that or had done it in the last couple of months. Still, they should check it out to see if there were any live people and if there were to make sure they'd stop calling the undead to them. Buffy met Faith's eyes across the circle they were standing in, "We need to go and see what that's about."
"The fuck you do!" Daryl cursed at her, "Some fool wants to invite the geeks to come around and listen to their preaching, that's their problem, not ours!" About half of the group agreed, but Rick and a few others looked thoughtful. "You're not agreeing to this." He looked at the group with disbelief and anger, but those who were unsure looked away from him.
Buffy understood his motivation for not wanting to get involved, but she was a Slayer and it was her duty to protect people from the monsters. Her fellow Slayer was itching for a fight and looked ready to take off into the trees in the direction of the bells. To be honest she wanted the fight as well. Allowing the herd to just stumble past had made her bloodlust peek out and the only way to appease it was to kill something.
"Faith and I will go and check it out, the rest of you can look over the maps we found to see if there's somewhere we might be able to live. Somewhere that's likely to be fortified enough to keep the dead out and preferably including a well and something we can live off of." To neither of their surprise none of them men would allow them to go off on their own. Never mind their fighting abilities and how the two of them had tried to teach everyone else self-defense and how to most effectively kill the biters. Of course not, they needed big, strong men to protect them. She saw Faith roll her eyes when they were looking the other way.
Five minutes later it was agreed that Daryl and T-Dog would join them as well as Andrea. The remaining four men would 'guard' the temporary camp while they were gone. None of them seemed to be under the impression that Carol, Lori, Jacqui, or Amy would be of any help if they were attacked. The unfortunate part was that they were probably right.
The five of them gathered some extra weapons in addition to what they already had on them, and then they began walking into the forest. The bells had stopped ringing by the time they set off, but they knew which direction the sound had come from so they were good as long as they didn't get too distracted and lost their focus and sense of direction.
It took them over 40 minutes to reach the small, wooden church, mainly because the two men didn't trust they knew which way to go. Which was annoying, but they would learn to trust their instincts in time. If they survived long enough.
"Well, fuck. You were right." Daryl said when he caught sight of the building and the surrounding grave markers. It was probably as close to an apology as they were going to get, so they accepted it and moved on. A sign by the road proclaimed it to be the Southern Baptist Church, with a smaller sign, written in red, saying 'welcome bikers!' in capital letters.
They walked across the graveyard, which made her feel strangely at ease while keeping a careful eye out for any shambling corpses. They neither saw nor heard anyone, dead or alive, but they ascended the 10 steps and stopped in front of the red double doors and waited for T-Dog to catch up to them. Meanwhile, the two women listened carefully for any sounds of people on the inside but got nothing. Daryl got ready with his crossbow aimed directly at the door and when he nodded Faith and Buffy each pushed their half of the door open while the hunter moved forward and inside.
The first thing Buffy noticed was the crucifix at the front of the church. It didn't fit as it was something dramatically out of place for a Baptist Church. The second was the three walkers sitting in the pews, all of whom turned when the doors opened and greeted them with hungry groans. She absently noted two of them were male and the third was a female with a rotted white chapel veil on her head. Or maybe it was something else lacy, she wasn't sure.
The corpses rose and shuffled out to the aisle where they were met by the two Slayers who used a knife to stab them in the forehead. Daryl shot the third in the head with one of his bolts, while T-Dog and Andrea kept watching for anyone approaching from the outside. Nothing else moved.
"There's no one alive in here so who rang the bell?" No one had any answers so they searched through the church and then through the annex but found no one alive, dead, or undead. The other half of the structure had a small kitchen, which included canned food, mostly soup, and other non-perishables. It even had half a dozen bottles of unopened water and a small assortment of spices.
In their search, they had come across three wheeled shopping bags and when they discovered the food they went back for them. T-Dog took the two largest ones and brought them back to the others. Faith and Buffy carefully loaded them with the edibles before they did a last inspection of the kitchen, and then they left.
T-Dog insisted on taking one while Faith took the other. Buffy, Daryl, and Andrea surrounded them in a V-formation with the hunter taking the lead and the two blonde women flanking the others where possible. The little group had just gotten back to the tree-line after having crossed the graveyard when the church bells suddenly started up again causing all of them to jump.
Buffy turned and ran back. Behind her Faith let go of the wheeled shopping bag and ran after her. Andrea screamed before she stopped herself by slapping her own hand over her mouth to dampen the sound, but she was frozen to the spot. When the two men began running she unfroze and followed. The two Slayers ran inside but the big, black man ran to the side of the building and a small black box on the wall. After pushing a few buttons the bells stopped and the only sound that could be heard was their breathing and the sound of nature around them.
Buffy and Faith jogged back outside when the noise stopped and discovered the others standing by the control box. "What happened?
"It's automated. The church bells must be on a timer, probably uses batteries." Faith eloquently rolled her eyes and stalked back to their catch.
It hadn't been a total waste of time, but there hadn't been anyone alive here either. The group up on the highway was guaranteed to be pleased with the additional food if nothing else. With any luck, none of the nearby herds had heard the church bells and were headed in this direction. So they got food and water, but not a real fight to appease their inner Slayer.
They began the long trek back to the road, trying not to make any unnecessary noise despite their wheeled bags. On the upside, neither of the men tried to dispute their sense of direction this time and they made it back about half an hour later with their precious cargo.