Recombination

"I definitely need overtime for this, in fact I don’t even think this is overtime. This is slayer stuff, stuff Buffy should be handling but oh no she has to go out or whatever leaving us to deal with it." Dawn sighed yanking the harness on to her back and fastening it tightly. "I bet she’s gone funny too." She informed the wide-eyed toddler as she picked her up and strapped her to her back.

All had not seemed right to Dawn for the last few hours but despite trying to get everyone’s attention no one had decided her opinion was worth anything. She’d thought Willow looked a little odd when she’d dropped her off to go and meet Anya; when she had questioned the witch all Dawn had got was a short summary about a suicidal vampire who looked like he was on drugs and had taken a stroll along the Uni campus leading a flaming entourage of equally entranced fledglings who hadn’t even seemed to notice themselves turning to dust; according to Willow anyway. Willow had gone to the magic box to see if Anya knew anything about it and talk to Buffy and Giles who were training, but that had been several hours ago and Dawn hadn’t heard anything from her; besides no one was answering at the magic box which was always a bad sign.

Dawn strapped Annemarie into the kiddie carrier and swung her arms, at least she would have them free if she needed them. She rummaged through Buffy’s wooden chest; grabbing a stake and a cross she shoved them in her pockets along with her mobile phone. She was immensely glad to have that; it so came in handy when she was kidnapped. Now though it served as a communication for others to get hold of her rather then vice versa. Her new friend, Kit had already phoned her on it. She had been worried about her parents, apparently they had fallen asleep in the afternoon or something and Kit couldn’t wake them. It wasn’t long after that a few of her other friends had reported back with similar stories.

It looked (to Dawn and her motley new crew) like everyone had just collapsed at some point during the day despite their activities. A quick tour of the high school by a couple of the older and braver students had found the Principal and several of the teachers he was conferring with. They looked like they were asleep but dreaming, their eyes flicking this way and that. A few students reported that their parents had woken up but seemed strange, like they were in some kind of trance. They didn’t seem happy or sad and the students had been unable to provoke any kind of reaction. They had remained expressionless and unnaturally calm, not even picking up where they had left off. Instead they had wandered around the house just staring at things as if nothing mattered anymore.

Dawn got the chills just thinking about it. She set off in a quick walk to the magic box, hoping Willow had charged up her laptop battery, she had a feeling she would need it. Luckily Kit had taken the initiative and set up a contact email list to all of Sunnydale High school students inviting them into one chat-room where they could discuss what was going on. Dawn didn’t know what else to do, she’d never been on her own before; and especially not on her own and in charge of a young child.

She had the faint panicky urge to get everything sorted, fast.