Ch 11: Fallen Soldiers

Infected Demographics, excerpt from Chapter Three: Crisis in the United States

The United Nations maintained the stance that the ‘infected’ was a coordinated world-wide bio-terrorist attack right up to the moment that General Secretary Kofi A. Annan was eaten live on television. Immediately following, New York declared a state of emergency and quarantine. The West Coast was already under martial law at the time; however, newer outbreaks in Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Chicago were still raging out of control with authorities assuring local populations to “remain calm and continue reporting unusual health symptoms to the nearest hospital.”

The crisis is the United States followed an almost identical progression as the situation in Europe. Strongholds emerged in all northern states, with the exception of New York, while southern states fell in rapid succession. The seat of government was relocated to the tiny town of St. Marie, Montana following the newly dubbed Valentines Day Massacre. The previous connation of the term would forever be replaced by the memories of the White House being overrun on February 14th during an emergency cabinet meeting. Many of our nation’s leaders were turned into members of the walking dead.

The former Glasgow Air Force Base was re-commissioned and the longest cold-weather landing strip in the US was put to test the week after the massacre as President Norman Yoshio Mineta declared a federal state of emergency for all cities and states not under martial law already, grounded all incoming and outgoing flights to the United States, closed the Canadian and Mexican borders, and ordered state authorities to enact quarantine measures of all major cities.

Mineta, formerly the Secretary of Transportation and 14th in line for succession, took office on February 17, 2004 since the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Lan Chao, was ineligible under statute 3 U.S.C. § 19(e) and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Robert C. Byrd, was eaten on the way to Air Force One during the initial flight to safety. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was not reported to be present at the White House when it was overrun, however, no trace of him has been found.

Mineta is credited for his quick thinking and his ability to forge alliances, including historic treaties with organizations which represented the supernatural and demonic. Due to these unprecedented treaties and his forward-thinking in combating the virus which spread zombification, historians credit him as one of the greatest Presidents of our time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Wednesday, January 28th, 2004

The building seemed to radiate power, menace, and a touch of evil. Buffy briefly wondered if the heavy duty magical signature would be as attractive to zombies as it would be to ordinary humans. Normally, she would avoid being anywhere near this many dark wards and even darker protection spells. The nature of the firm’s magics were not surprising, nor was it surprising that the spells were setting off her Slayer senses – they weren’t exactly screaming danger, but it was definitely making her twitchy.

She cursed at the fates again. Why did she have to be here of all places? Smack dab in the middle of zombie central, trying to rescue her sister. Who probably didn’t even need rescuing given the fact that—

a) it was most assuredly not Tuesday,
b) she had travelled to LA on her own free will, and
c) knowing her sister - she was probably having a ball in there with Spike while Buffy was stuck trying to figure out a way in to the fortress.

‘Life was just not fair.’

Buffy started outlining possible attack plans which might allow them to gain entrance into Wolfram and Hart. Obviously the front entrances were sealed, and punching or kicking their way in wouldn’t work that well. Ignoring the tugging on her arm, she began to throw out some of her ideas to the group.

Perhaps they could go to a nearby building and jump over to the roof? Or perhaps the sewer entrances? The lawyers probably needed vampires to … well there just had to be sewer access! Oh! Or the garage…they might be able to get in through that location. Or make a pyramid of Slayers and scale the sides? Break a window?

She finally got annoyed at the incessant tugging and snarled a question at the redhead. Vi backed up a step and shrugged, pointing to a large sign hanging from the roof.

‘Maybe it would be easier to get in the line and enter through the screening area.’ With a pout, she thought, ‘Scaling the building would have been much more fun though.’

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dawn walked towards the couple standing near the edge of the roof, making sure to check out Lindsey’s butt as she approached. Why was it that the evil ones were always hot?

Pushing her crankiness aside, she peeked over the ledge and gasped in shock. It was nothing like the end of days in Sunnydale, which was she had been envisioning the city to look like.

The city was tall, normally defined by sky scrappers and sunshine. Instead of the empty look there was a seething mass. The city seemed to be writhing. Moans were carried by the wind, buildings were burning, and everywhere she looked there was fleeting movements - survivors fighting, animals running, and zombies staggering through the streets.

She hadn’t really understood what the seer babble had been about before now. It really was the apocalypse. Humanity might survive this, but the heart of their civilization was broken. How could they recover? How could they rebuild?

Dawn shivered and stepped closer to Lindsey and Eve, taking comfort in their presence.

She watched as a large group of people strolled towards the screening center and wondered what on earth they were thinking. Zombies were drawn to the living and here was thirty odd people chatting while they walked, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were in mortal danger.

Several groups of zombies heard the noise that the group was emitting and changed course to intercept.

Dawn had no clue how this large of a group had stayed alive this long, but she was afraid she was about to see a bloodbath.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy winced as they headed towards the sign which advertised the screening area. It was strange; it felt as if there were an invisible fence and queue around the perimeter. When she thought about entering Wolfram and Hart she felt compelled to head in a certain direction. The feeling was triggering her Slayer senses and giving her the beginnings of a migraine. Of course, two days without any real sleep was contributing to that as well. Planes—no matter how luxuriously appointed—were not made to sleep in, especially with a non-stop zombie movie-thon going on in the background. ‘How many times can you watch those things anyways?’

Buffy snapped to attention as a voice cracked through the air. ‘What the hell…’

“Please put your hands in their air!”

She looked around in confusion as she raised her hands up, nodding for the group to do the same.

The mysterious voice, which seemed to be coming from above them somewhere, barked out, “Please state your name.”

“Um, Buffy Summers, why?”

“You are invited to proceed towards the screening area, Ms. Summers.”

Buffy turned around and gasped in horror. Behind their group and gaining was a large group of zombies.

“We need to hurry, guys!”

Before Buffy could snap out any orders, the voice cut through the air, sounding annoyed. “All members of your group must keep their hands in the air and state their name. They may only proceed when we invite them by name. All those who cannot follow orders will be shot. All those who attempt to enter without invitation will be electrocuted by the wards. Since zombies can not speak, nor follow simple directions, this allows all people in the quarantine area a measure of safety before they are screened for infection. We will keep you safe until then. Now, keep your hands up and proceed towards the screening area before you become someone’s dinner!”

Gunfire rang out and the approaching zombies began to fall before they could encounter the group.

Buffy hurried and entered the quarantined area. She was definitely rethinking her anti-gun stance.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was the end of the world… and they were waiting in line. How lame could this get? Okay, it was the end of the world and they had done nothing but run away and wait. It was overwhelming, er underwhelming? She needed to do something to get this out of her system. Sitting here and thinking wasn’t much of an option – all she could focus on was her failure.

Logically she knew it wasn’t her fault Giles was dead or that the Council was destroyed, at least the London office. Yet, she couldn’t help wonder if she had been there, would it have made a difference. Could she have been quick enough to grab Giles from the zombies, or smart enough to recognize what was happening before it had gotten out of hand?

It didn’t stop her from wondering if all over the world her girls were dying. If they were trying to save people because of their destiny and without knowing all the facts becoming another statistic. If they were all to become fallen soldiers?

How was it that they didn’t see this coming? What good were mystics and seers if they couldn’t predict an apocalypse coming? All the work they had done, all the people they had lost…

Spots started to appear in front of Buffy’s eyes as the enormity of their losses began to sink in. Her breath quickened and for a brief moment, she wondered if she actually might pass out.

The moment was shattered with the sound of an annoying and quite familiar voice cutting through the air.

“Good meat, next!”

Buffy looked puzzled as the line shuffled closer.

Good meat, next!”

It couldn’t be?

“Oh, my God!” Harmony’s voice screeched.

Buffy watched as a team of armed guards rushed towards a raggedy looking man when Harmony’s voice stopped them. “No, no – he’s not infected, just a serious lack of hygiene. I mean his body odour alone should be enough to ward people and zombies away. Can you say ewwww…”

The line progressed. Every time Harmony said good meat the people were ushered through. Bad meat meant they were dragged off by armed guards. A dozen different scenarios were running through Buffy’s mind.

The headache started to return with the continued squealing of Harmony’s voice. By the time they were at the head of the line, she felt as if she was going to collapse.

Giles dead, the Council she helped rebuild and reform gone, her sister trapped here probably in some pot of stew labelled ‘Good Meat,’ Spike returned from the dead, the magical power that radiated from this evil building…

After 48 hours of no sleep, of panic and recriminations, of death and fighting, her body’s self-defence mechanism finally kicked in.

Harmony’s voice screeched “BUFFY!” just as her world faded to black.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cleveland

She ran. All thought fleeing her mind. Terror, pain, outrage – there was nothing more she could do but run.

She couldn’t believe it – didn’t want to trust the stories. Someone would have called, someone would have warned her. Giles, Buffy… someone would have notified her, if not her, they would have notified someone on the Hellmouth.

The threats were real, the dead were walking. The apocalypse was coming. Hell, the apocalypse was here and they’d forgotten her again. Just like before… left in a jail cell to rot, with no one caring. No one warning her that the Bringers were coming, no one to tell her they were killing Potentials, no one realized that she would be an easy target. Left alone to die, until they needed her help with Angelus.

It was too late. She caught a sob before it could escape. It wouldn’t do to give her away her position. Not that it mattered. They had abandoned her here with no warning.

Wood – her watcher, her lover, perhaps one day her husband… he was gone now. Lost to a fight which they should have been warned about; why didn’t anyone call? Logically, she knew that there had to be something more to the news about the Los Angeles and London riots and a mysterious infection, but who really expected the dead to walk?

She ran faster. She couldn’t save Robin, she couldn’t save the other Slayers, why did she think that she would be able to save herself?

Blindly, Faith ran through the night.

TBC….