A/N: If you want a good idea of the settings for this chapter, I was thinking about the location where they shoot Lost. Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to take a minute to leave a review. I live for reviews ;)


CHAPTER 15: Welcome to the jungle

For a seemingly endless moment, the two blondes stood outside the car looking as if they were expecting it to fix itself. Spike finally gave the nearest tire a solid kick while muttering a string of British curses, half of which Buffy didn’t understand. She hugged herself, trying to chase the feeling of dread that was slowly seeping into her, chilling her to the bones.

“Why do I keep expecting the entire crew of ‘Punk’d’ to jump out of the jungle?” She tried to joke, but all she got for her trouble was a glare.

“Wow, tough crowd.” She rolled her eyes at the overly dramatic vampire.

Without a word, Spike walked around the jeep and yanked the trunk open. The serious expression on his face while he searched for god knows what was starting to freak Buffy out.

“Don’t you think we should head back in the general direction of the road instead of just standing here and doing nothing? Not that you’re doing nothing. You’re definitely doing... something. What the hell are you doing by the way?” Buffy asked not so eloquently, her eyebrows drawn in confusion.

“Looking for potential weapons, Slayer. What does it look like?”

“To fight that thing you said was following us?”

Buffy tried her best to look detached and unconcerned. After all, she was hardly defenseless. When it came to fighting big, fat, nasty demon thingies, she was a pro and it took a lot to scare her. She had even started a journal when she first moved to Sunnydale in which she listed all the freakiest things she’d come across. At first it was supposed to be a top five type of thing. But it soon turned into a top ten, then top fifty... and it had finally ended up a top hundred. And they kept on coming. So as far as scary things went, she was pretty much jaded. But one thing couldn’t fail to scare her: seeing Spike scared.

He slammed the trunk shut with a frustrated yell and continued his abuse of the poor car by kicking the bumper so hard that it detached and fell to the ground with a loud clang.

Buffy gave him a scolding look. “We’re gonna have to pay for that, you know?”

“Yeah well, if we make it out of here alive, I’m bloody suing the wankers at the hotel for giving us a piece of junk and getting us stranded in the middle of nowhere. And that’s because I still have the bleedin’ chip in my noggin stopping me from killing them all.”

Buffy smiled playfully at him, still not seeing how serious their situation was. “You know what they say: if you can’t kill ‘em, make a shitload of money off of ‘em.”

Spike grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her in the opposite direction from the road. “Let’s get movin’ Slayer.”

Buffy pulled out of his grasp and took a step back. “Now hold on just a minute. What is going on here? I don’t know what you saw back there, but whatever it is, it’s not like we can’t fight it or anything.”

“With what?” He asked, clearly aggravated by her lack of faith in his judgment. “With the screw driver I found in the trunk? Or did you want to throw sandwiches at the giant doggy that could eat us both in one bite? We have nothing, Buffy.”

His harsh words sobered her up and she suddenly looked worried. “Can’t we stay in the car and wait for someone to find us?”

“Soft roof, pet. Again with us turning into yummy dog food. Let’s get a move on, shall we? We’re wasting valuable time arguing over nothing.”

Buffy opened her mouth to reply, but shut it just as quickly. They both turned briefly to look in the direction where they could hear the sounds of a struggle coming from the trees, getting dangerously closer. They looked up at the top of the trees contrasting in black against the darkening sky and then saw in the near distance some of the smaller trees falling down. In a synchronized way, they turned and started running.

“Told you so!” Spike shouted over his shoulder while trying to maintain his pace and not trip over anything.

Buffy was following closely. “That thing is freaking huge. How come I didn’t see anything when I looked back earlier?”

“It wasn’t following us on the road, luv, it was hiding in the trees on the side of the road. Believe me, if you’d known where to look, you wouldn’t have missed it.”

“Yeah, kinda hard to miss. What’s the plan?”

“We stay where there’re plenty of trees and obstacles that will slow it down a bit. Then we run until we end up somewhere more civilized, or... until we‘re lucky enough to trip on a sword, an axe, anything sharp and lethal.” He added sarcastically.

“That’s it? That’s your brilliant plan? Run until we die of exhaustion?”

“If you can come up with something better, I’d love to hear your suggestion, pet.”

For a long moment, all that could be heard was the sound of leaves rustling and branches cracking loudly behind them and their own hurried foot steps on the damp dirt.

“Well?” Spike asked looking at her over his shoulder with a smirk.

Buffy glared at him. “Shut up and run.”

“Look, pet, we both know how my elaborate plans tend to blow up in my face. But there’s one thing I’m good at and it’s finding a last minute way of getting myself out of a sticky situation. I don’t know how we’re gonna get out of this, but when I see it, I’ll know. Trust me, I’ll find a way.”

“I trust you. But run faster because I don’t fancy the idea of a fight with whatever’s following us. I did not save the world that many times only to end up as Dog Chow while on vacation.”

The two blondes wove their way through the jungle with the agility of supernatural beings, but the proximity of the trees with their long hanging foliage and gigantic roots sticking out of the ground slowed them down considerably. Fortunately, it made it even more difficult for the much larger beast to follow and gave them a chance to put some distance between the demon and themselves.

After a few hours spent running and climbing, they finally reached a clearing. Spike stopped in his tracks and Buffy barely avoided collision.

“Give a girl a warning, why don’t you.”

She took a moment to look down at herself and frowned with displeasure. Her clothes were torn and multiple scratches that now marred her tanned arms. “Damn it, why do these things only happen to me when I’m wearing my favorite clothes? Save the rain forest, they say. Well the rain forest isn‘t being too friendly to me so I don‘t see...”

Spike motioned for her to be quiet and listened intently.

“What? What’s going on?” She whispered quietly.

“It’s not following us anymore.”

“Really? Do you think it got bored? Cause that’d be great. I’m tired of running and I kinda hurt my ankle back there.”

“Yeah well, I doubt it. It’s been chasing us for a long time and we haven’t been able to put that much distance between that thing and us. I don’t see why it would give up now. This seems like a bloody diversion to me...”

As if the beast had only been waiting for those words to make a good entrance, blazing red eyes appeared in the trees on the other side of the clearing and a dark massive silhouette emerged from the trees.

“Bloody hell, it got us. The thing just made us look like sodding amateurs.” Spike nearly growled, his features contorting into his demon visage.

Buffy’s eyes were round as saucers as she took in what looked like a cross between a giant dog and a bull with a bad case of rabies. The thing was the size of a small pick up truck, black as the night, its eyes red and vicious with a double row of terrifying teeth in a jaw that could easily bite off both their heads at the same time. To add to the picture, it had little horns on its big dog head and a gold hoop through its snout.

“Holy shit.” She whispered as the beast slowly advanced on them. “Cujo on steroids.”

“Uh... I think now would be a good time to make ourselves scarce, Slayer.” Spike said in a low voice before grabbing her arm to make her move. “Unless you wanna wait and find out exactly how far Cujo’s freakishly muscled legs can jump.”

They made a mad dash to the side, narrowly escaping the attack from the beast, and dived back into the trees.

“I’ve seen something like that before...” Spike said while shoving tall plants out of his way.

“Well aren’t you the lucky vampire.” Buffy snickered sarcastically. Her breathing was starting to get heavier after all these hours of running but they needed to put as much distance as possible between them and the hell dog so it wasn’t time to slow down.

“It’s not exactly the same, but it could be related to that demon I saw once. And if it is, we’re nice and buggered, pet.”

“Thanks for pointing that out. What is it?”

“Don’t rightly remember the name in Greek, but it’s in the same family as the demon they called the Minotaur. Not that I’ve actually seen the Minotaur myself--they managed to kill that thing long before my time--but I saw the same kind of demon once in Eastern Europe.”

“You mean the Minotaur was actually real?”

“And you’re shocked because you haven’t seen enough demons in your lifetime?”

Buffy huffed. “No need to be a smart ass, mister. Anyway, wasn’t that thing in Greece?”

“The Minotaur was just some bloody demon that happened to be there. It’s not uncommon to see the same type of demons in different parts of the world. They couldn’t kill it so they managed to capture it before it killed the entire island’s population, then they fed it with their enemies once in a while and built a legend around it. But it really was nothing but a demon.”

“But wasn’t it supposed to be half man, half bull?”

“According to the myth, yes. But they liked to embellish the stories and make them fit with their God mythology back then. Hell knows what that thing actually looked like. The guy I talked to when I saw this thing in the flesh said it was a descendant of that breed of demon, but it could have been crossed with some other demon for all I know. I’m not sure, all I‘m saying is that it looks an awful lot like the one I saw in Ukraine a while back. Could be something else entirely too, but it definitely had the same taste in jewelry. The other one had the same gold hoop through its snout.”

“And why do you say we’re in trouble?”

“Because this thing is usually summoned by someone and has a specific target. Apparently, us. And it won’t stop until we’re both dead. The gold hoop is a magical symbol that means it has a master.”

“I’m sure we can find a way to kill it. I find that a good beheading, or poking big bad beasties through the heart usually works on pretty much anything.”

“Won’t work on this. For one thing, it doesn’t have a heart. And it might take it a while to recover from beheading, but it will eventually and then it will search for us again. This nasty bugger is driven by its hunger and the only thing that will satisfy it is us. They managed to kill the one in Kiev by ripping out its stomach, burning it separately from the body and scattering the ashes in the river, then burning the rest of the body and burying it.”

Buffy grimaced in disgust at the image provided by her imagination and Spike’s words. “Eww. Sounds like fun... not. But who would summon this thing and send it after us? Are you telling me that only a week here and we already managed to make new and aggressive enemies? That‘s a record.”

“I have my suspicions.”

“Who?”

“Remember that Italian bird we keep bumping into?”

“Yeah...”

“Well maybe she really isn’t interested in sharing my hot body with you after all.”

Buffy got distracted by Spike’s words and failed to notice a root sticking out of the uneven ground. She tripped, but he managed to catch her in time.

“Careful there, pet. Wouldn’t be a good time to sprain an ankle.”

“It’s your damn fault with your stupid comments about threesomes with the creepy Italian chick.”

He winked at her and they resumed their long and strenuous trek.

“So as I was saying, yesterday when we left the restaurant, I saw her standing there and looking at us. I have a bad feeling about her.”

“Good to know I’m not just paranoid. You know what that means, right?”

He looked at her questioningly.

“It means we have to find a way out of this so we can have some fun with the Italian bitch. And I’m not talking about physical pleasure, if you get my drift.”

“Good old fashioned violence?”

“Oh yeah. If I find out she has anything to do with trying to turn this into the vacation from Hell, she’s going to regret ever crossing paths with this Slayer.”

Spike smirked. “That’s my girl.”

The moon was shining bright overhead, casting a soft silver glow on the surrounding vegetation as the vampire and Slayer continued their seemingly endless trek. They were getting closer to the volcano and Spike thought it might be a good thing for them. If they could reach higher grounds, they would be at least able to orient themselves and make sure to walk towards civilization or, at least, the ocean. The road, as well as most hotels, was along the coast; therefore, they'd be sure to find shelter, weapons, or at least a car that would take them back to their hotel.

"The incline is getting steeper," Buffy noticed, a touch of weariness in her voice. "We're reaching the base of the volcano. Not good."

"Might help us, pet. This way we can have a view of our surroundings and figure out which way to go. Maybe find a hotel nearby."

"And bring a blood thirsty beast into civilization so it can have a little snack?"

"Saint Buffy, always thinking of others before herself..."

"Excuse me, but I was chosen to protect people against things like that, in case you hadn't caught on to that yet."

"Look, I know it's risky, but where there’re people, there are weapons. So far, it's our best option."

"I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

The beast was maybe a few hundred feet behind them now, but it was still too close for comfort. They could hear the birds flying away in fright at its approach. The night had gotten cold, the temperature made worse by the humidity lingering in the air. Buffy was tired and shivering like a leaf. Her sweat soaked shirt was clinging to her back, cooling her body even more.

Spike looked at her with concern, a frown marring his face. "You OK, Slayer?"

She nodded curtly, her eyes focused on a point in the distance, her lips set in a determined line.

He took off his duster and put it on her shoulders. She gave him a look of gratitude before slipping her arms in the sleeves. Buffy sighed in contentment.

"I was making fun of you for taking it when we were still at the hotel earlier... Look who's laughing now, uh? Thanks."

Spike smiled at her then took her hand in his and squeezed it gently.

“What happened to that famous Slayer stamina?” He tried to joke.

“I might be stronger than you…” She started saying between clenched teeth.

He huffed, clearly insulted. “You wish.”

“But…” She continued, ignoring his bruised ego, “I have the added sometimes not so fun bonus of having human lungs. We’ve been running around the freakin’ jungle all night, so give me a break.”

He didn’t answer, merely nodded his understanding.

The trees were closer together now and they had stopped running a while ago when they realized that they could still stay ahead of the beast while walking quickly. The trees were enough of a hindrance to the beast to give them the advantage. Besides, Buffy might be the Slayer, but she still needed to save her strength in case they were forced to fight the beast at some point.

Spike noticed that she was slowing down almost imperceptibly, but it was enough to get him worried. He kept her hand in his hoping to motivate her to keep going.

“We’ll find something soon, pet. I know it.”

“What about... some kind of cave?” She asked, her voice hopeful. “Something big enough for us to fit in... But too small for the big bad doggy?”

“That would work.” Spike said. He was reluctant to crush her hopes, but continued anyway. “But we’d also risk getting trapped. And what are the odds of finding something like that? We’d have to be extremely lucky to just happen to find something suitable, and pet... I think we ran out of luck a while back.”

She let go of his hand and shoved her cold ones inside the duster pockets, hanging her head in defeat. “I know.”

They kept walking in silence for a half hour that felt to Buffy like three hours, each lost in their own head, until Buffy suddenly reached her limit. Tears flooded her tired eyes and slowly, gradually, she came to a halt. Focused on moving forward, Spike failed to notice that she wasn’t following anymore.

“Spike... Spike! Stop. I can’t do this anymore. I think we lost it. Can we stop for a little while? It’s been hours. Won’t this thing just give up already?”

Spike stopped walking and turned to face her, worry, as well as frustration, clearly visible in his stormy blue eyes. A big part of him wanted to be able to let her rest, but it wasn‘t possible. She needed to be strong and keep moving even if she couldn’t anymore. Giving up now wasn’t an option. He was getting increasingly scared for her safety and that made him snap at her.

“No, we haven’t lost it. And no, we can’t stop.” Spike said through gritted teeth. He was tired too and wanted nothing more than to stop walking and rest for a while, but knew it wasn’t possible.

“I’m exhausted, I’m hungry and my entire body aches. It’s like...” She looked at her watch and gasped in shock. “It’s freakin’ three in the morning! This stupid thing has been after us for six or seven hours. Will it ever give up?”

“No. It won’t. If it’s anything like the demon I told you about earlier, it won’t stop until we’re dead. It can’t.”

He started moving again. “Come on. I promise I’ll find something soon. Don’t give up on me now, Slayer. Never pegged you for a quitter...”

“I am not a quitter!” She yelled at him, clearly stung by the taunt. She started after him.

“Are too.”

“Am not!”

“All right, all right... quitter.” He mumbled loud enough for her to hear, but then turned his head to wink at her.

She scrunched up her nose in a grimace of annoyance, but didn’t reply.

Despite his attempt at lightening up the mood, Spike’s thoughts were grim. He prayed to whatever gods were listening that they’d find something to get out of this mess and soon before they ran out of time.

And who would have thought that God would listening to a being who’d spent more than a century killing and committing unspeakable crimes against humanity for the fun of it? And yet, someone up there must have been listening to the desperate blonde vampire.

The vegetation got sparse, the trees farther in between until there was nothing but the night sky in front of them. They both advanced cautiously until they reached a cliff so steep and deep that it made Buffy dizzy and she had to take a step back.

“Great. Just what we needed.” She muttered somberly while looking left and right, evaluating their options. “Which way do we go now? Not that it matters... Left and right, same deal: trees and more freakin’ trees.”

But Spike was still looking down the wall of rock. It was at least a hundred feet drop, with a rough landing. Suddenly, he straightened up and turned around to face Buffy who was still muttering about stupid cliffs.

But what Buffy saw as an obstacle, he saw as an answer.

“Pet, remember when I said I’d find a last minute way to get us out of this mess? Well this is the time to trust me.”

“You’re not seriously thinking about climbing down, are you?” she asked worriedly, starting to have serious doubts about his mental state.

“Do you trust me?” He repeated insistently.

She gave him a concerned look, but nodded anyway.

“Climb up this tree, go as high as you can and stay there until I tell you to come down.”

“What? No. I’m not leaving you alone...”

“For once in your bloody life, would you do as you’re told and stop arguing? We don’t have time for this. GO!”

After a moment of hesitation, she finally relented and jumped up with the grace and agility of a feline, despite her aching muscles. He waited until she disappeared then braced himself for the arrival of the beast. He didn’t have to wait too long. Suddenly, he was face-to-face with the vision of nightmare. Spike took a step back, then another one. With each step, the monstrous creature took one as well. Its red eyes were focused on him, drool falling from teeth sharp as knives.

“Come on Cerberus, be a good doggy and follow uncle Spike,” the vampire taunted, in full game face and ready for action. “I‘m right tasty. If you want me, come and get me you nasty bugger.”

Praying to all Gods that the beast would chose to follow him and not sniff out Buffy’s scent and opt for the easy prey instead, Spike took off in the direction of the cliff. From her perch in the tree, Buffy anxiously followed the action, a look of complete horror forming on her face as she realized what was happening.

The beast was mere inches away from Spike, its teeth making a sickening snapping sound as it tried to take a bite out of the vampire. Buffy’s mouth opened in a silent scream as she realized that Spike wasn’t slowing down or turning like she’d expected him to. Instead, she could only watch as he jumped off the cliff, the giant dog flying right over him and falling into the ravine.

Buffy leapt down from the branch and ran as fast as her legs would go. She dropped to her knees at the edge of the cliff and looked down, fully expecting to see Spike’s broken body a hundred feet below.

Instead, what she found was a vampire holding on to the edge by the tip of his fingers, and standing on a rapidly crumbling boulder a little lower.

“Uh... A little help here?”

Without hesitation, Buffy grabbed his wrists and pulled him up until he collapsed safely next to her.

He knew he was in deep trouble the minute he noticed the redness of her cheeks and her blazing eyes. She started pummeling him.

“You STUPID... IDIOTIC... MORON!! I can’t BELIEVE you just did that! How could you?!”

Spike deflected her fists with his raised arm. “Hey now, hold on just a bloody minute! I said I had an idea... Never said it was a good one.”

“I thought you were dead!!” She screeched in a way that made Spike wince.

He grabbed both her wrists and immobilized her before pulling her against him. He let go of her wrists and put his arms around her. “Calm down, pet. I’m sorry, OK? I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t have time to explain my idea and argue about it. I just did what I thought I needed to do... It worked, didn’t it?”

Buffy pinned him with a withering glare, but nodded anyway. “So... it’s over then?”

Spike placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “What do you think?” He asked with a touch of sarcasm.

“I think... I’m definitely not a dog person anymore. That’s what I’m thinking.” She mumbled somberly before collapsing on her back with a long, dramatic sigh.

Spike chuckled and did the same, lying next to her in the dirt. “I’m with you on that one, Slayer. If we ever adopt a pet, I vote for a cat.”

“...Or a hamster.”

“Slayer?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe we should just forget about pets. After all, we do live on the Hellmouth.”

“Good point.”

“So,” Spike said after a moment. “Which one of us is going down there to put the doggy to sleep for good?”

“Crap!”