Chapter 20

“Did I do that?” Buffy asked nervously, watching the demons as they slowly began to approach the now-missing fourth wall of their cages and test the force fields. “Please tell me I didn’t do that.”

“No,” Riley assured her. “Forrest must’ve done it from outside.”

Her eyes widened. “He’s trying to kill us.”

He would have responded, but just then the first demon decided they were a threat – or possibly dinner – and charged at Buffy. She blocked the attack, but it didn’t deter the demon, and more were headed their way.

“Weapons?” Buffy shouted desperately. “Any kind of weapons at all?”

“Hang on!” Spinning back to the locked door, Riley aimed a kick at the emergency glass panel in the wall next to it. He reached through the shattered glass and pulled out a stun gun and six charges. Loading the first one, he fired, taking out a big bear-like demon that was lumbering toward Buffy, who was still preoccupied with the first one that had attacked her.

He reloaded, but before he had time to take aim, something black, scaly, and winged flew through the air at him, catching him by the shoulders and knocking him to the ground. He kicked and struggled, but the flying demon had him pinned with the sharp claws on its six feet.

Buffy managed to snap the neck of her demon, only to be swarmed by three hissing, spitting, lizardy things. Their saliva stung where it hit her skin, and left sizzling little holes any time it landed on her clothes.

“Great,” she muttered, keeping them at bay with a series of wild, spinning kicks. “Couldn't have been the chipped ones, huh? Oh, no, too easy.” She didn’t know how she could possibly kill them without getting within spitting range when she was weaponless, not to mention the other demons that were starting to congregate around them. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to want to get too close to the spitters, either.

She nearly slipped in blood, and she glanced down to see another demon with a mouthful of sharp, jagged fangs ripping apart the corpse Buffy had left on the floor. A scavenger of some kind, he was more preoccupied with tearing the flesh off the body of his fellow demon than he was with fighting her, for which she was truly thankful.

Riley whipped his head back and forth, trying to avoid the sharp beak that was slashing at his face and chest, leaving jagged cuts wherever it made contact. After much struggling, he finally managed to pull his weapon arm loose of the demon’s claws. He knew he could take the shot, but the current would travel right through the demon where it was touching him and electrocute him along with it. Figuring he had no choice, he braced himself for the shock and fired the stun gun directly into the demon’s soft belly. They both convulsed, and the demon let out a high-pitched screech before collapsing on top of Riley’s limp form.

Seeing this, Buffy quickly grabbed the scavenger demon and tossed it into the circle of acid spitters to keep them occupied. As it shrieked in pain, she fell to her knees and shoved the winged carcass off Riley.

“Riley? Riley!” she cried, patting his face until he regained consciousness.

“I’m all right. Demon took the worst of it,” he replied, trembling slightly as he glanced down at his bloodstained shirt. She helped him to his feet just in time for them to spin in opposite directions to avoid the charge of a horned demon coming at them pointy end first. Buffy managed to take it down with a well-place kick, while Riley took another shot, knocking out one of the spitters.

“We’ve gotta get to the other door,” he told Buffy, fending off a vampire by cold-cocking him with the gun. “I can try the keypad over there, see if I can get us out.”

Buffy gazed down the seemingly endless hallway, their path littered with snarling, angry demons who’d been kept locked up and probably starving for who knew how long. “Go. I’ll cover you,” she replied, snapping the neck of the one she was fighting and moving on to the next.

Riley took out two more demons with the stun gun, but then opted to fight hand-to-hand, knowing he only had one shot left. The blows hit him hard, and he was starting to feel the effect of the blood loss from the gashes on his chest. Behind him, Buffy was unleashing her martial arts skills on two vampires simultaneously. Other than their current opponents, only the two spitters were left standing, although the big bear-like thing Riley had tasered first was already starting to wake up. He knew the electric shocks wouldn’t incapacitate the demons for long, so he quickly got to work on unlocking the door.

Not used to fighting vampires without at least a stake, Buffy hopped on the back of one in order to get the best grip to tear his head off. He exploded into dust, sending her plummeting back to the floor at the feet of a very growly bear who’d just come out of electricity-induced hibernation. She quickly rolled away, sweeping her leg out to trip one of the spitters, hissing in pain as drips of acid burned through her pants. Kipping to her feet, she sprang into ready position, spinning around to find that she was surrounded by four demons, at least two of which had recently awoken from their tasering.

She went for the weakest one first, a petite, green being that looked like he might have been friendly, had he not been locked in a cell with nothing to eat. As it was, he was slavering at the sight of Buffy, and she quickly dispatched him with a feint and a follow-up kick to the neck that snapped his spine.

Although the other demons were still advancing on her, she’d managed to get on the other side of them, so that there was nothing between her and the door. “Riley, how’s it coming?” she threw over her shoulder.

“Got it!” he shouted triumphantly, as the door emitted a mechanical beeping sound and a whoosh like it had just depressurized. “Come on!”

Backing away a few more steps with her eyes on the demons, Buffy finally turned and sprinted for the door, only to feel the burning sprinkle of acid on her back. She cried out, bursting past the threshold as Riley took aim, felling the spitter just short of the door. He slammed it shut behind her and quickly locked down the room.

They both fell back against the door, exhausted. Riley slid down to the ground, gasping as the adrenaline began to wear off and the pain from his injuries fully registered.

“Riley, are you okay?” Buffy asked him, concerned. She wanted to run off after Forrest, but she couldn’t leave Riley behind if he was hurt. Besides, Forrest had a massive head start by now, and she’d never be able to find him on her own.

“I gotta get back-up down here to deal with this.” He struggled to get to his feet, but he quickly slumped back down, his military decorum disintegrating as the gravity of the situation caught up with him. “Holy shit. Holy shit, Buffy. Forrest –”

“Forrest tried to kill us,” she finished for him. “He locked us in there to get rid of us, which means he’s guilty and he’s covering his tracks. I have to find him before he gets away.”

“Where would he go?” Riley gasped.

“I was hoping you would know that.”

“Okay,” he said, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “Uh… loose ends… Graham? You think he’d go after Graham?”

“Unless they’re in on it together, in which case he’d go to warn him,” Buffy replied. “Either way, it’s our best shot.”

“Okay, he should be – shit, I don’t know – I think he has training exercises now.”

“Will you be okay here?” She knew she’d make better time on her own, since Riley was in no condition to continue the chase. When he gave her an affirmative nod, she asked, “How do I get there?”

After getting directions from Riley, Buffy sprinted away, shaking off the previous battle and psyching herself up for the next one. Muttering the lefts and rights under her breath, she made her way through the Initiative corridors, each lined with locked doors leading to what Riley had told her were labs for HST experimentation. The hallways were all white and sterile, and she left bloody footprints on the floor as she ran.

She’d just started to get used to the monotony when she noticed one of the doors standing open, but no Initiative personnel around guarding the darkened room. It seemed suspicious that a door would be left unlocked when no one was using the lab, so on a hunch, she slowed to a halt and peered inside. Not for the first time in her slaying career, she envied vampires their enhanced senses. With her normal human ones, she could neither see nor hear anyone in the room.

She crept stealthily across the threshold, until she realized that she was clearly illuminated by the light from the hallway to anyone who might be lurking inside. “Hello?” she said hesitantly. “Forrest?”

As soon as she’d cleared the doorway, the door automatically slammed shut behind her, and the lights flickered on, revealing Forrest across the room, his broken arm hanging limp at his side. Between them was what appeared to be an operating table, as well as a rolling cart with various surgical implements on it.

“Summers,” he said disdainfully. “Here to throw more wild accusations my way?”

“Well, I’m thinking I can add ‘attempted homicide’ to the list of your crimes,” she replied, edging carefully toward him. “Clever, though. Setting us up to get killed by demons rather than doing it yourself. This entire place is wired, right? Even the bedrooms. So anything you do will be caught on camera.” She gave him her sternest expression. “You might want to think about that before you try anything.”

Forrest smiled. “One step ahead of you.”

She followed his gaze to the ceiling-mounted security cameras, which had been smashed and the wires cut.

“Walked right into a trap,” he said, making his way around the operating table. Buffy circled the room in step with him, not yet ready to engage him in a fight.

“I just took down a dozen demons at once. You really think you can take me on?”

Forrest reached behind his back and pulled out a gun, aiming it at her. “I don’t think you’re faster than a speeding bullet, Supergirl.”

“Why?” Buffy insisted, as they continued their tense revolution. “Why did you rape me?”

“A cup of coffee,” he replied, letting out a humorless laugh. “It was all because of a freakin’ cup of coffee. I didn’t plan it or anything,” he told her, his aim never wavering. “A buddy of mine was manning the cameras that night, asked me to bring him something to keep him awake. I get down there, and what do I see? Hostile 17 fucking my best friend’s girl – in his own fucking bed!”

His calm demeanor was starting to crack, and Buffy tensed, readying herself to make a move, even as his words threatened to break through her own hardened shell.

“And you liked it, you little slut! You were like a fucking cat in heat, with a vampire, of all things!”

“So you decided you wanted your turn, too, is that it?” she shot back, her voice trembling.

“I didn’t go up there for you,” he said defensively. “Went up there to kill the undead bastard, but he was gone by the time I got there. Then you start bitching at me for interrupting, and when I try to shut you up, you start hitting me and shit! Had to subdue you somehow.”

“By raping me?!”

He shrugged. “Like I said, didn’t plan it. But if you’re gonna go around spreading your legs for anyone that comes along, you gotta figure someone’s gonna teach you a lesson.”

A furious, wordless scream escaped her as she launched herself over the operating table at Forrest. In a panic, he managed to get off a shot, hitting her in the arm, but it didn’t slow her down. Heedless of her injury, she tackled him to the floor, sending the gun skittering across the white tile. Skilled combat giving way to a feral, anger-fueled attack, she pounded on him wildly, tears of rage streaming down her cheeks.

Had she been thinking, had she been strategic and disciplined in her attack, Forrest wouldn’t have stood a chance against her. But her haphazard blows left her open and vulnerable, and he was able to land a punch right on her gunshot wound, causing her to recoil in pain. He managed to buck her off, sending her crashing into the wheeled cart.

Surgical implements cascaded to the floor, and she narrowly avoided being impaled by one of them. She snatched up a scalpel and threw it with perfect aim, hitting Forrest in the back as he ran for his gun. With a cry, he stumbled, but managed to recover his weapon.

Buffy leapt to her feet, another sharp instrument in her hand, only to find Forrest once again with his gun trained on her. He was only a few yards away, and as a trained marksman, could easily kill her with a single shot at close range. She froze, her own weapon raised to throw.

“Drop it,” Forrest commanded, taking a step closer.

She did as she was told, and the blade clattered to the floor. “Look, Forrest, you don’t have to do this. You made a mistake, okay? We can – we can –”

“Shut up!”

She heard the sound of the hammer cocking back.

“You and Riley aren’t gonna just let this go,” he said. “He’s too fucking honorable, and you? You’d kill me right here if you had the chance.”

“No, Forrest, I –”

A shot rang out.

Buffy gasped and looked past Forrest’s crumpled form to where Graham was standing in the doorway, tranquilizer gun in hand as he stared down at his unconscious friend.

“You okay?” he asked her, lowering his weapon as he cautiously stepped into the room.

She glanced at her upper arm, where the bullet was still lodged in her flesh. “I’ll be all right. What about him?”

“He’ll be out for a little while.” Graham bent down to pick up the gun Forrest had dropped, and then hesitated. “Listen, I wouldn’t blame you, if you wanted to…”

Buffy looked down at him, remembering the fury that had coursed through her during their fight. She thought about how easy it would be to snap his neck, or to take the gun from Graham and pull the trigger, to end this right here. He deserved it, and she was owed justice for what had happened to her.

“No,” she said, turning away and walking slowly out the door. Without looking back, she said, “Call it in to Walsh, or whoever. I’m a Slayer, not a killer.”