"Heads up, there's more coming this way," she called out, walking backwards and stepping carefully over half-eaten bodies. "Angel, you get what we need?" She saw motion and cocked her shotgun, but before she could take the shot, Angel touched her shoulder and made her jump. "Got enough blood for a couple of months now; Faith is helping Buffy and Spike unload the rest of the food and blankets." The creature finally shuffled into sight, and Beth raised her shotgun again. The zombie's head exploded but more poured around the corner, attracted by the noise. Beth made to stand and fight, but Angel yanked her back around the corner, into the safety of the bunker.
------------
No one knew what the Croatoan virus really was, but they saw it. Saw the effects of it everywhere, saw the name spray-painted across every surface in the city. Saw the bodies of the ones who'd died from it, saw the walking remains of the living who were infected by it.
Angel was immune; so was Spike. That was a surprise, because Buffy had expected blood-borne diseases to affect vampires first but Beth wasn't surprised. She knew that vampires wouldn't get sick, couldn't get sick from anything human.
Wesley was the first one to discover that the virus wasn't human, and that was precisely why Spike and Angel had natural immunity. Vampires already had demons inside of them, and the demonic nature of the virus was destroyed and rejected by the vampires. Only the older ones were immune, though; at least a hundred years or more, to give the demon time to infiltrate every cell of the vampire's body, and even they fell to the Croats.
That's what the news started calling them, and no one knew why. But Croats, the infected, they were every horror movie junkie's nightmare. They weren't the slow-moving shufflers, devouring human flesh and organ meat mindlessly. These were fast-moving runners, eating flesh and blood, bone and brain, but smart. Strong, able to use weapons, moving in packs like wild animals but intelligent.
Angel and Spike were safe; the Slayers were safe. Buffy and Faith, even Beth. They'd all given blood, vials and vials of it to Wesley, to Giles, to anyone who knew enough to study it. Every time the virus encountered whatever it was in the Slayer's blood that made a Slayer a Slayer, it shriveled up and died. Booster shots of Slayer blood helped to protect the Watchers, but it only worked on a few of them.
In the end, Croatoan took nearly everyone. Wesley and Gunn, Giles and the Slayers. Spike, Angel, Buffy, Faith. Willow and Kennedy, Beth. The Pod became their bunker, double lockdown and magically enchanted to repel the Croats. But it wasn't perfect. Too many windows, easily broken, meant hours of dangerous scavenging and gathering plywood and bracings to hide them from showers and sprays of broken glass as the Croats tried to break into the building.
Finally, Buffy came up with the idea to seal off the lobby; Angel and Spike bricked up the elevator shafts, while Faith and the other Slayers stole a welding setup and sealed the doors of lobby as well as the doors to the first floor. Gunn helped outfit the cars; he'd made a vamp-killing truck for his gang and it wasn't hard to adapt the equipment to kill Croats instead.
Even Beth was useful. Buffy hated guns; she'd never bought into the need for them, until now. A good head shot was the only thing that could stop a Croat, and Beth was the best marksman they'd had. It meant more dangerous trips out, to procure guns and ammunition, but it was worth it if it meant surviving long enough to live.
---
Angel knocked on Beth's door; it wasn't usual for her to be asleep this long. Nearly all of them had changed their sleep patterns, to sleep during the day, get up at sunset, go out during the night, when it was easier to move and avoid the Croats. Now it was 8 in the evening, and Beth hadn't shown.
"Just a sec!" came the muffled reply, and Angel looked down, expecting Beth to open the door.
Instead, when the door swung open, Gunn yanked it open. "Angel!"
"Gunn?" What was Gunn doing here? …Why did he even think he had the right to ask? "What are you doing here?"
"Same thing as you, man. Girl didn't show her face at roll call. Came up to look, nobody answered. I came in and searched, didn't find anyone or anything. She ain't here."
That made him worry. "Check under her pillow?"
"Sig's gone, man. So's the Winchester," Gunn answered. "And the ammo belt."
"Christ, she's gone out." Angel kicked the wall, sending his foot halfway through the drywall. "Meet me in the basement; I told her to wait but she saw the bloodbank last night and wanted to hit it first thing because we're almost out downstairs."
"Somebody's gotta put a leash on that girl, preferably one she can't chew through. I'll go get the truck, you get the backup. Might as well load up while we're out saving her skinny ass."
---
They took both trucks this time. Buffy, Spike, and Faith went to the grocery; most of the fresh fruits had gone rotten by now, but the store's generator kept the refrigerated and frozen goods safe for consumption. There were more than enough stores in the city that no one but them were hitting this store, so the supplies were still plentiful.
Gunn and Angel were going for the blood bank, the gun store, and to find Beth.
"If she's not dead, I'm going to kill her," Buffy promised. "Bring her back, guys." Buffy swung herself up into the truck, Faith was riding in the bed while Spike drove. "See you soon."
"Wouldn't want to be Beth when Buffy gets ahold of her ass," Gunn commented, swinging up into the driver's seat. "C'mon, get him and let's go."
"Yeah, I'm coming." The last thing Angel picked up was one of the group's walkie-talkies. Maybe Beth had taken one. Swinging up into the passenger side of the truck, he sighed, racking back the slide on his gun. "I'm ready."
---
Beth was panting heavily as she leaned against the blood-bank door. She'd made it to almost a block away from the bank before the Croats caught her scent. She'd run full-out for a block and a half, Croats on her tail every inch of the way.
Beth'd caught a break at the blood bank; the building was solid cinderblock with only one front door. Dragging the waiting room chairs over, Beth turned them on their sides and stacked them to block the door, then looked around. She tried the light switch, pleased to see it still worked. It meant the building had electricity or a generator, which meant refrigeration, and that meant unspoiled blood.
There was one door leading to the back, and Beth dragged a bulky file cabinet from the office to block it; having the strength of a Slayer had its advantages sometimes.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when her radio crackled to life; she'd almost forgotten she had it.
"Elspeth Alexis Holden, you are in so much trouble you're never getting out of it," came Angel's voice over the radio. "You're too damned stubborn to die, so if you've got a radio, pick it up and answer me right now."
Beth was in the process of fumbling the radio off her belt, but when the order came, she nearly dropped it entirely. "Only Tabitha gets to break out my full name, Angel," she said. "Head over to--"
"Don't say it. Because I know you were told not to hit the blood bank alone. So I'm comfortably certain that when Gunn and I pull up into the ambulance bay we aren't going to find you." Angel paused. "Right?"
"I'll wait for you; ping me back when you pull up and I'll hit the roller doors; the building's got juice and I'm checking for supplies now. We'll be able to jack some more first aid supplies along with the liquid refreshment."
Gunn leaned over to speak into the radio. "How hot's the area, Ellie?"
Beth gritted her teeth. Gunn was the only person who ever called her Ellie, and she detested it. "Lukewarm out front; don't think they're at the rear yet but when I open the doors they'll hear it for sure. I'll take point when you roll in and close the doors behind you. But leaving ought to be a hell of a lot of fun."
"Roger that. Girl, you got some pissed off people out for your hide, just FYI."
Angel snatched the radio back. "Yeah. Like me."
"Already figured that one out, Chief. Call me when you're in the area." Beth put the radio back on her belt and slung her rifle over her shoulder as she switched to the Sig, just in case.
In the back of the clinic was a handful of patient tables and several huge refrigerated cases. The first one was separated blood--plasma, packed cells, even blood marrow. The second and third cases, however, were at full capacity, holding pints of blood in every type. "Jackpot."
She kept rummaging through the supply cabinets, taking a mental inventory. Every once in awhile, she stopped to listen, but it didn't sound like anyone was trying to break down barricades.
Her radio crackled to life again. "Yo, Ellie, we're comin' in your backdoor hard and fast. You ready for us?"
Beth rolled her eyes. "On my way. What's the ETA?"
"Minute or less, no Croats," he answered.
"Same here; clear to roll in." Beth did a quick check before punching the controller for the doors. They rose quietly, but the clattering was still loud in the quiet night. "Doors are open and bay is clear and cold." Not even a single Croat howl, and Beth was starting to get unnerved.
"Roger that, we see your position." Gunn flashed his headlights to Beth know it was them. "Confirm entry?"
"Come on in, big guy," Beth answered. "Coast is clear."
As soon as Gunn pulled the truck in, Beth hit the doors again and they rolled down. Holstering her gun, she waved. "Hey, guys."
Gunn waved back, but Angel just glared. "Yo, El. Next time you get the urge to take off, don't." Gunn bumped fists with Beth as he went past her. "What you got?"
"Two storage lockers of blood and a bunch of first aid. Haven't boxed it up yet, but it's all in there," Beth answered, shrugging towards the other room.
"We'll be there in a minute," Angel growled.
Gunn took the not-so-thinly veiled hint. "Right. I'll just… go start making a list."
Angel just glowered in silence until Gunn had left, then jumped up on the loading dock where Beth was standing. Before he said anything else, he grabbed Beth by the shoulders, shook her roughly, then hugged her.
Beth hugged him back, burying her uncalled for grin in his shoulder. "Hey, big guy."
"Don't you even big guy me, Beth," Angel growled, but he didn't let her out of the hug. "What in the hell were you thinking?"
She turned and rested her cheek on his shoulder as she stayed in his hug. "That my boy and the Limey bastard needed a refill, and that didn't seem to be on the agenda. So I put it there."
Okay, that was enough reassurance. Angel yanked her away and held her at arm's length, scowling at her. "Are you okay?"
"For real, yes, I'm okay. No scratches, no scrapes, no bites. No Croats in the area, I'm fine. I'm not even out of breath." Beth just kept grinning up at him. "You were worried about me?"
Angel growled, reaching out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You know I was."
"I didn't, but it's nice to hear. Makes a girl feel wanted. GUNN!" she bellowed. "The place is still on generator power or something; Angel and me are gonna go check the basement, see if we can scavenge some more fuel!"
"Okay!" came the muffled yell. "I'll be on call if you run into anything nasty!"
Beth grabbed Angel's hand and pulled him behind her. "Let's go."
- - -
The basement was a mess. Apparently the last waste disposal run had never come, because the bins were overflowing with biomedical waste bags. None of them had been torn open, and Angel moved them gingerly out of the way in case there was anything infectious in them.
Beth gave a low whistle. "They must've kept overflow here," she murmured, looking around at the large storage shelves. "There's bandages, tapes, needles… even drugs." She nudged Angel. "Give me a boost up."
"Do I look like a ladder to you?" Angel asked, picking Beth up by the waist. "You should be the one giving me a boost."
"Uh, I may be a Slayer, but you're still taller. Which means you lift me." Beth reached up and pulled down one of the boxes marked with bar codes and lifted the flaps. "This isn't for blood bank use," she said after a moment, pulling out shrink-wrapped cases of vials and blister packs of pills. "There's not a donation facility on the planet that uses penicillin, Levaquin, lorazepam, or any of this stuff."
Angel shook his head. "Could be shared storage with another medical facility."
"Or someone's hoard," she said, packing the drugs back up. "Whatever the case, they don't need it now and we do. Pack it up and we'll take it with us; once we get it back to the bunker we can take an inventory, see what we've got, and put out the word if we've got enough to give to someone else."
The radio crackled to life. "Uh, guys? I got all the blood packed up, and there's not a bit of room left in the coolers. You and Spike are gonna be eating like kings for the next forever."
Beth picked hers up. "What about the rest of the stuff up there?"
"You don't even know," came the crackling reply. "Whatever this place was fronting as, it sure as hell wasn't no blood bank. There's enough stuff here to equip a big emergency room."
"Yeah, same thing down here," Beth agreed. "We got drugs, syringes, all kinds of stuff. We're gonna pack up everything that'll fit in the truck." She stopped to think. "Gunn? You think we could fit one of those blood refrigerators in the bed if we collapse the racks and pack the boxes inside it?"
Angel put his hand over the radio to muffle the sound. "Beth, what are you doing?"
"I'm having an idea," she explained. "As it is, if Gunn did pack up all that blood, then that means he's got a fridge and a half worth at least, if not more, cause there were three of 'em up there. It'd be a little bit of a stretch of our genny, but if we had a central place to store just blood for you and Spike, then that'd open up more room in the other fridges for food and medicine."
Gunn must've heard the argument, because he came back with, "Well, when y'all decide what you want, the answer is, it's possible to fit it in, and yes, it's a good idea."
Angel glared at the radio. "Fine, I'll help Beth clear out the top shelves down here, then I'll come up and help you move the fridge out to the truck."
Gunn's laughter was clear over the radio channel. "Hey Shorty, watch your ass down there by yourself."
"Oh, fuck off," was Beth's good natured reply. She clipped the radio back to her waist, then grinned at Angel. "Upsie-daisy, please."
It took them about twenty minutes to pull all the boxes off the top shelves. The other shelves Beth could reach by herself, so Angel set her down on the floor and put his hands on his hips. "You're gonna be here when I get back, right?"
"Of course," she said, not even looking up as she opened the boxes. "I got a lot of consolidation to do."
Angel knelt beside her, and took her by the shoulders to turn her so that they were eye to eye. "Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise, Angel." She leaned forward and kissed him softly, one hand still balancing on the boxes while the other hand slid into his hair and held him close. "I'm sorry if I scared you today," she said softly, breaking the kiss.
"You did," Angel admitted. "And Buffy's going to kill you."
"But I'll have you to hide behind," she said with a smile. "Go, Gunn needs help too, then both you big strong men can come down and load all this up into the back too."
"Bullshit we will," came Gunn's voice from the top of the stairs. "You're the one with super-powers, girl, you can load your own damn boxes. Angel, you comin'?"
"Not yet," Beth said under her breath, for Angel's ears only.
Angel kicked her as he walked past. "Shut up," he hissed, and raised his voice for Gunn. "On my way!"
Beth ended up with five boxes. She'd consolidated all the drugs she'd found--painkillers and antibiotics mostly, plus a few she didn't recognize--into one big box, and had packed all the other supplies into the other four boxes. Paper tape and regular adhesive tape, gauze in all sizes, saline and rubber gloves and syringes and needles, even plaster.
At the bottom of one of the other supply boxes, she'd found a letter.
I don't know who will find these things, but you'll need them. The end is coming. We're hiding what we can't take with us and we're getting the hell out of dodge. Good luck.
Well, that answered what was going on. Someone had apparently figured out what was going on and decided to stock up and get out. She folded the letter up and tucked it in her jacket pocket, then carried the boxes two at a time to the top of the stairs. Once all five were sitting up there, she came back down the stairs and started looking around. There had to be a generator or power source of some sort, but she couldn't find it. Not even a sweep with the flashlight was helpful, because there was nothing else in the basement except what they'd already packed up.
That irked her, greatly, but she hung the flashlight back on her belt and picked her radio up as she started back up the stairs. "Got the basement cleared out; negative on the generator or whatever it's running on, but I got my boxes up. How's it going with the fridge?"
"It's already moved," Angel answered from the top of the stairs. "C'mon, I'll help you pack in your boxes and Gunn's getting the truck ready to leave."
"Solid." Beth hefted two of the boxes, and Angel picked up the other three. "Let's go."
-----
Once everything was loaded up, Gunn perched on the hood of the truck. "Okay. So how we gonna work this?"
"Easy," Angel said. "You drive, Beth's in the middle, I'm in the passenger side."
Gunn cracked up. "Oh, yeah. I see that workin' like a charm."
"Uh, excuse me, Beth is right here and she'll cover your asses as you pull out of the bay and then jump in the bed as you roll by," she disagreed.
"No you're not," Angel answered. "You've already gone out on your own--"
"And made it just fine," she pointed out.
"And it's not gonna happen again," Angel continued, as if Beth hadn't even burst in. "If anyone's gonna play truck jumper, it's going to be me, because these guys can't hurt me."
"Hi, they can't hurt Slayers either, which is why I'm not dead," Beth pointed out angrily. "You and Gunn are gonna take the truck and I'm going to operate the doors."
"Might wanna keep your voices down," Gunn said, holding his hands out. "I heard--"
Howling. Whatever Gunn had heard before got cut off by the loud howls of angry Croats.
"--that," Gunn finished. "Which is why I asked in the first place."
"Well why didn't you say so?" Angel asked. He jumped to the loading dock, then up one more level to peer out a small window cut in the loading bay wall. "There's a lot of them, and more coming this way."
"Don't worry; they can't get in through the front, and even if they do, they can't make it through the office. I've got every cabinet I could move in there, and everything's locked and blockaded. Short of hijacking a cement truck, the front's as closed up as it can get. There's no street access in the basement, we checked, so the only way they can come at us is through the dock," Beth said, and went to the fire alarm. She yanked the building diagram off the wall, and pointed. "See, here are the exits. This one's the front door, where I blocked it off, and in here, the hallway to the office is blocked off too. Once you get into the treatment rooms, that's the only door out, to the hallway there, and if they make it that far, they'll bottleneck in a heartbeat." She pointed to the other one. "That's the basement access, but there's no way out. It's just the basement, and cinderblock walls."
Angel pointed at the third exit. "That's the bay here. That's the only other way they can get in."
"Yeah, and once they figure it out, it's not gonna take them long to tear down those aluminum doors," Gunn agreed. "Which goes back to the question, how are we gonna play this?"
Angel looked at Beth. "You and Gunn go. I'll stay."
"No way, dead man," Beth said. "I'm a better shot that you are, and I can back into the treatment rooms if I have to and make a stand there til you guys can come back and get me."
"No way yourself, half pint. We're not leaving you behind," Gunn said emphatically. "The whole point of this trip was to drag your ass back in."
"Yeah, well, that's before we had an alleyway full of Croats on our asses," Beth pointed out. "And I dare either one of you to tell me you're as good with a Sig or a Winchester as I am."
"Hey now, I'm not so bad with the firearm thing," Gunn protested.
"No, you're not so bad with the crossbow thing," Beth answered. "And you're great with the axe thing, only this time, we need the gun thing, and like it or not, I am the temporary firearm expert in this group. I'm also the one who's not gonna get sick if a Croat bites me, which kinda makes me the one who's gonna stay behind and fight them off."
"Uh, hello, are we forgetting that I'm just as immune as you are?" Angel demanded. "And I've been around long enough to be pretty damn good with whatever weapon you hand me."
"Okay, here, I got an idea," Gunn suggested over the howling. "Why don't you both stay here and have a pissing contest while we all get killed."
Beth made a frustrated noise. "Okay, Gunn's right. I'm not letting either one of you stay behind, you're not letting ME stay behind, so here's a compromise." Beth slung the shotgun off her shoulder and held it out to Angel. "We both stay and Gunn drives like hell. Once he's clear we punch our own way out and meet him outside the hot box."
Angel growled, but nodded. "Fine. Gunn, leave the axe. We might need it."
"You got it, man. And, uh, for the record? I don't like this, but y'all ain't listening to me." Gunn jumped off the hood and went around to the truck's extended cab. That's where the big weapons were kept, and he pulled out a double-bladed axe and pitched it to Angel. "Got a request, Ellie? All the greatest hits right here!"
"Got another axe, short handle?" Beth asked, checking the magazine in her Sig and her backups in the ammo belt.
"No axe, but can I interest you in a machete?" Gunn twirled it quickly between his fingers.
"I'm not picky." Beth caught it as Gunn threw it to her, and she hooked it to her belt. "I'll hit the button and you roll. Don't stop rolling until you're clear."
"On it." Gunn swung up into the driver's seat. "You two be careful."
"We will." Angel took Beth's shotgun and crouched in position. Guns felt uncomfortable in his hands, but he was getting used to it.
"Watch your back, Ellie," Gunn called through the windshield, and cranked the pickup. "Hit it!"
Beth slammed the heel of her hand against the controller then jumped down beside Angel. The Croat howling got louder as the bay door rolled up, and Gunn revved the engine.
The spring-loaded arrows mounted on the tailgate went off as soon as Gunn hit the gas. It cleared a space for him to swerve the loaded truck around and he plowed through the Croats as he wheeled out.
Beth started shooting as soon as the door went up. Aim, squeeze, aim, squeeze. Over and over again, Beth concentrated on what she was doing. The Croats crawled over their own dead, slowing themselves down dramatically, making it like shooting fish in a barrel. But still they kept coming.
Angel growled angrily at the shotgun and threw it back to Beth. Angel had picked up another of Beth's guns and pulled it out of his pocket. "Beth! You got clips for this?"
Beth spared a glance. "You took my Eagle!?" she demanded, outraged for a brief second. If it'd been anyone but Angel, she'd have killed them. "I got three mags for it; cover my line." She dropped her gun and hit the ground, rolling so she was tucked inches away from Angel's shoulder. Looking through her ammo belt, she found the mags. "They're .357s, big and heavy. They're one-shot stoppers, so line it up right and you might be able to take down a couple Croats with every shot. Recoils like a bitch, but I think you can take it."
Angel just leaned a little to one side, so Beth could drop the magazines into his pocket. "Thanks. We're leaving."
"What? Are you crazy?" Beth ducked, avoiding one Croat that had made it past their bullets, and she swung Angel's axe to behead the zombie easily.
"No, just trust me. They're starting to hold back because they're starting to back up. Look, they're having a hard time climbing over their dead," Angel pointed out.
Beth slung her shotgun back over her shoulder, and handed Angel her Sig. "I'll kill anything you don't shoot. Back to back?"
"Yeah. Make sure you stay close. Same skin, I mean it. I lead, you follow." Angel wasn't in the mood to discuss it.
Beth surprisingly picked up on that, and didn't argue. "You lead. I'll watch your back, and we'll make it."
"Damn right we will. And if we do? Buffy's gonna have to go through me because I'm gonna kick your ass first for not going with Gunn." He racked the slide back on the Sig and cocked the hammers on both it and the Desert Eagle.
"Hey, wait a sec." Beth hit the rolling doors, squashing the corpses that'd been piling up and cut off their ingress route. "Let them keep throwing down here, and we can get through the front door and come around the back," she said, pointing at the diagram of the building. "They'll think we're still holed up in here while we're getting out."
"You don't think they'll hear us moving the furniture?" Angel demanded.
"Not if they're busy howling and beating on the door," she pointed out. "I moved the file cabinet before by myself; I can move it again just easily. The front door's blocked and bolted, so we just have to unlock it." Beth jerked as the glass broke in one of the small windows on the bay door. "Or we can wait here for them to tear the door down and go all Wild Bunch on them."
Neither sounded like a thrilling plan to Angel, but moving appealed more than hanging around waiting, especially since he was the one being responsible for Beth's life. "Okay. We'll do this your way."
"Finally. Let me lead the way into the office and you make sure nobody gets on my six, okay? Once I get the front door unlocked, then you're in the lead when we go out." Beth shouldered her way in front of Angel and headed back into the treatment rooms.
"When we get out of this, we're gonna have a discussion about leadership dynamics," he muttered, but followed her back into the building.
As she'd promised, the building was empty, and the howls were staying behind them. Beth lifted the file cabinet carefully, and Angel helped her set it down almost silently. The howling didn't stop, didn't shift and change, and Beth flashed a grin at Angel. "You were saying?"
Angel's warning shout of "Get down!" was too late, even though he'd vocalized it the instant he'd seen the single Croat in the building.
It moved fast, faster than he could pull her down, knock her out of the way. It wasn't howling, Angel couldn't figure out why it wasn't screaming for the others but he didn't care. He kicked it off Beth, rolled it as far as he could before pulling both triggers.
Hit by the double cartridges, the Croat's head exploded.
"Are you hurt?" Angel demanded, dropping the gun and getting to his knees beside Beth.
"Oh yeah." She pulled her hand away from her neck, where it'd torn deep into the skin and bone with its teeth. "Kinda wish we hadn't cleaned out all the supplies," she said with a wry grin.
"God." Angel yanked off his jacket, tore his shirt off to wad up as a pressure bandage, used his belt to wrap it in place and tighten it around her neck. "You're not gonna die, Beth. Not when there's enough blood to transfuse you in the back of Gunn's truck."
"Damn right I'm not. We're getting out." Beth used the axe to push herself up to her feet, one hand on the bandage to help hold it in place. "There's not another one in here; if there were another one in the building, this one woulda been howling its head off." She tilted her head to put more pressure on her neck. "… so why wasn't it answering the howls out back?"
"Didn't hear them," Angel suggested. "Big building, thick walls. We were making a lot of noise back there, it probably didn't hear them with the doorway being blocked off and I shot it before it could."
That was a good enough explanation for Beth. "Sounds good to me." She cracked the door open and peered out. The lobby was full of scattered chairs, but no more Croats. "Okay, lobby's clear. Looks like it broke down the barricade, didn't find anything, and wasn't smart enough to find its way out again."
"Okay, great. Get behind me. Can you lift the axe?" Angel put his jacket back on, and picked up the guns he'd dropped before.
Beth hefted it with one arm and spun it. "I'm a Slayer. It takes more than a little scratch to get me down."
Yeah. Angel didn't believe that for a millisecond. He could smell the blood pouring out of her with every pump of her heart, but it wasn't like they had a choice. "You stay close to me. Same skin if you can. You don't move one step that I don't take first."
"Unless I'm killing something, I'm on your back," she agreed.
"No, no unless, no except, nothing. You stick to me like glue or we sit right here and wait for them to get us or we get rescued." Angel was not going to budge on this. Not with an injured party. "It's my way or nothing."
"Now you sound like Tabitha." Beth leaned briefly against the wall, then straightened. "My way or the highway. Hate to be the one to break it to you, Angel, but if we get out of this? I am not going to be the dutiful follower, you know. "
"If we get out of this, I don't care if you follow or not. Until we get out of this, however, you are going to follow my lead, or I will knock your ass out and carry you out. Are we clear?" Angel was absolutely serious; he'd do it if he had to.
"Promise me something?" Beth looked at Angel seriously.
"What?"
"That if something happens to me, and I can't keep fighting, don't do something stupid. Let me do what I'm destined to do, and you make sure you get out and help the rest survive. They need you more than me; there's a hundred Slayers but there's only one of you."
"No." Angel turned his back to Beth and checked both his guns. "We're both going to go back and help, and we're going to do it now."
Beth wanted to argue, but couldn't. "Okay. We'll go now." Beth tightened her grip on the axe and got behind Angel.
Angel didn't say anything, just kicked the door leading to the lobby open the rest of the way. Chairs scattered across the floor as the door swung open, but there was no one else. "Stay. Close," he demanded, walking towards the main door.
Beth stayed close, pressing her shoulders against Angel's. He opened the door out to the street, and peered out.
The streetlights were only working at half strength, but it revealed an empty street. They could see the tail end of the Croat mob around the corner, and Angel eased out the door. He held it open for Beth and she ducked under his arm, then nodded silently to the other sidewalk.
Angel put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. If they could cross the street and get to the other sidewalk, there was a slim chance they'd get by if they were quiet enough. Angel knew he could be; he pocketed both guns, and swept Beth up into his arms.
Beth didn't protest; she knew what Angel was doing, but she dug into his pocket and pulled out the Desert Eagle, so that one hand held the axe and the other, the gun. Just in case.
With Beth in tow, Angel crossed the street silently, then looked up. He set Beth on her feet, and whispered to her, his mouth pressed to her ear to keep the whisper from leaking. "On my back. Arms around my shoulders. We're going up on the roof where they can't get us." Angel didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before, but he could get them rooftop to rooftop easily, faster than they could follow.
Beth nodded, tucking the Desert Eagle away, sliding the axe over her back and secured it through the straps of her shotgun. Angel knelt and let Beth climb on, and she made sure her grip was tight under his arms, hand locked around wrist to make sure she wouldn't fall.
Angel leapt, scaling the front of the building like a spider. When they were safe on the roof, Beth dropped off his back and sat on the graveled rooftop. "Good God, I didn't know you could do that," she whispered, leaning her head back and putting her hand on her bandage. She was cold, but wasn't about to complain about that.
"One of the many perks of being undead." He peered over the rooftop, checking out the Croats. "They're not following; I think we made it." He looked back at Beth, who looked to be drowsing against the brick. "Beth?"
"Always told you not to believe the bad shit people said about you. Look at you saving the day." She grinned, even though her eyes were closed. "I'm good, right here."
"No you're not." He could tell she wasn't moving as much as before. "Let's go. Let's get to Gunn." He scooped her up, balancing the axe as he leapt to the next rooftop, then two more before jumping to the road.
The Croats had lost their scent entirely, and Angel held Beth tighter as he ran. The howls had died out completely, but all Angel was concerned with was finding Gunn. He listened closely to her breathing, making sure that she was still alive, and finally, when he caught Gunn's scent on the wind, he'd never been more thrilled.
"Angel! What the hell happened!" Gunn vaulted out of the truck and yanked open the extended cab so that Angel could lay Beth in there.
"She got bit. I think it was trying to tear out her throat but she fought it off. It just got her neck, but it got pretty deep. I put a pressure dressing on it but she's lost a lot of blood."
"Oh, shit. How hot are you?" Gunn asked, rifling through Beth's pockets until he got her wallet.
"We're not; I hit the rooftops and we got out clean. Don't know why I didn't think of it before." Angel watched what Gunn was doing as he pressed his hand against Beth's bandage. "What are you doing?"
"Yeah, well, ain't nobody thinking straight right now." Gunn held up her driver's license. "Girl's O positive. We got a shitload of blood in the back."
"You drive, I'll transfuse," Angel said, rolling up his jacket sleeves. He climbed up on the running board of the truck, tearing through the boxes until he found the needles and the tubing.
"We're not gonna jab her with a needle in a moving vehicle, Angel," Gunn said. "We'll hook her up and then we'll drive." He yanked open the fridge door, and dug through it until he came to a unit of O positive. "Okay, set her up and do it quick, bro."
Angel ignored Gunn as he thumped up the vein in Beth's left arm, then slid the needle into it. The tubing came next, and then the bag was attached. Angel opened the valve so that the blood could flow as quickly as possible, and hung it on the little hook over the window. "Okay. It's going. Let's get out of here." He closed the extended cab and got in the passenger seat, but twisted himself around to check on her as Gunn floored it.
-----
Angel watched the ashes float on the wind as he scattered them. He hadn't wanted to do it, but it was necessary to make sure that the infection died with the blood; incinerate everything, scatter the ashes to the wind to protect the others.
He'd really loved that shirt.
"Hey."
Angel nearly jumped out of his skin at the touch to his elbow; he hadn't been expecting that. "Hey yourself; you shouldn't be out here."
"Thanks, Mom," Beth said, crossing her arms over her chest. Her neck still itched from the stitches and the bandages, but it was getting better. "They told me you were out here, and I figured I'd come and try to ease your suffering." She held out a shopping bag.
Angel took the bag and peered into it, then pulled out a wine-colored shirt that was nearly identical to the one he'd just had to destroy. "Where'd you get this?"
"Neiman Marcus. They're open 24-7 now, did you know that?" She nudged his elbow again. "Thanks."
"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" Angel folded the gift over his arm, and looked down at her. "How are you feeling?"
"Alive, thanks to you." She kissed his cheek gently. "You saved my life."
"All in a day's work." He closed his eyes at the kiss to his cheek, and shook his head. "Of course, I wouldn't have had to save it if you hadn't--"
"I know. Believe me. There are people lined up three deep to ream my ass out for that," she pointed out. "Buffy. Faith. Gunn. Giles. Hell, even Spike came by to threaten me and tell me if I got myself killed before he got the chance to kill me, he was going to kill me." She looked down. "Only one I didn't see was you."
Angel fidgeted. "I figured you'd seen enough of me for awhile."
Beth reached out and let her fingertips stroke over the back of his had. "I don't ever see enough of you."
Angel's hand jerked as she touched him, and then finally he relaxed it enough for Beth to interlace their fingers together. "I'm glad you're all right. I don't know what I'd have done if you weren't."
"Hey. I'm a Slayer. These things happen, I live through them." She squeezed his hand. "C'mon. Take me for a walk."
"You sure you're up for it? I mean, the safe zone's still safe for now, but--" He stopped when Beth put her fingers against his lips.
"If I'm not, you can always carry me back, Prince Charming." Tugging him gently, Beth started walking towards the fence that surrounded the building, and Angel followed, still holding Beth's hand.
The End