Together We Stand Divided We Fall

Chapter 7

Dawn paced the ground in front of the witches. “Find her yet?” she asked, trying not to panic.

“Dawnie, we’re trying! We’re working as fast as we can, you have to…” Tara started to say but was cut off by Willow.

“Found her!” Willow jumped up and ran towards the slayer. As she reaches Buffy, the witch whispered, “We have to hurry. She’s weak and growing weaker.”

Buffy looked over at Dawn. ‘She can’t lose anyone else,’ the slayer thought. “Right. We need to move fast. Forget about the groups. As of now, we move as one unit.”

****

The man returned to the cave. He still has the bag, the knife handle jutting up from the top. “Now we have some fun.” He turned and placed the bag beside Faith on the ground by her feet. “If you move, you lose your feet first,” he told her.

Faith watched as he brought the knife to the waistband of her leather pants. He slowly moved the blade back and forth along her stomach. “Look’s like you had an ow-wee. Let’s see if it healed inside.” He pushed the knife into her stomach slowly. Faith screamed as he cut her. She could feel the skin ripping as he pushed the blade in farther. The blood ran down the inside of her pants and down to her bare feet. “Go on, little girl, you can pass out. But don’t you dare cry. Remember, Daddy doesn’t like it when you cry. It only makes him hurt you more,” he giggled as he pulled the knife out slowly.

***

Willow was now in the lead of the unit. “We’re getting closer.” The gang ran through the woods in the direction that Willow was heading.

Dawn slowed down a little, panting. “Please let her be okay. I promise, Faith, if you’re alive then I’ll give you a night you’ll never forget!” She wiped her tears and ran to catch up with the rest of the group.

Willow stopped at the entrance of the cave. “She’s in here,” she said quietly. “I don’t think she’s alone,” she commented to Buffy as the slayer ran to her side.

“Neither am I.” Buffy glanced over her shoulder to see her sister running toward her. “So we go in quietly. No matter what you see, stay quiet! We have to keep our heads…got that, Cordy?” After Cordelia makes an exasperated sound of acceptance, she turned and walked into the cave.

“Why is she picking on me?” Cordy asked Xander.

“Because you were like, ‘I’m going to kill the world,’ earlier,” he told her as he walked into the cave.

Cordy glared at the back of his head and replied, “Oh, Xander, there is a good place for you to hide and cry for your Buffy!” while waving at an outcropping of rocks near the entrance.

“That’s enough!” Dawn scolded quietly and walked past them to her sister.

“Psycho,” Xander spat at Cordy.

“Cry-baby,” she replied with a sneer.

“Bitch,” he said with a smile.

Cordy was about to say something with a mock outraged look on her face when Spike walked up to them. “You two idiots shut the hell up,” he said as he passed.

They all followed close behind the rest of the group. Angel smelled the air in the cave. “Buffy, I can smell blood. And a lot of it.” Buffy walked ahead to where the cave opened into a big room. She looked around and listened closely. She could hear someone talking.

“No, baby, Daddy doesn’t like crying,” the man said as he put the hacksaw to Faith’s right arm and began to saw at her.

Faith screamed as the saw blade cut into her arm. “OH FUCK!” She kicked her legs trying to hit him with her feet.

He pulled away, ripping the saw out of her arm. “Now, now honey, none of that. I warned you no kicking. Now I have to cut your feet off!” Faith’s eyes grew wide as he took one of her legs and placed the saw on her ankle.

“Hey fuck nut!” Buffy yelled at the man. “Why don’t you give her a rest and play with me for a while?” She moved more into the cave. “What do you say? Let’s play.” The slayer moved a little closer to him, but not close enough for him to touch her.

Dawn, Willow and Spike moved along the far wall. Cordy, Xander and Angel moved along the opposite wall. They all stopped and watched as the man turned and walked toward Buffy. When she had his full attention, Dawn, Willow and Xander ran to Faith.

“Faith baby…I’m here, baby,” Dawn said. “Baby wake up…please wake up!” Dawn was crying now and slapping Faith’s cheeks lightly.

Angel moved behind the man and watched as he turned around to see who was talking to his prisoner.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked Angel.

“A killer. Wanna try me?” Angel moves forward and punched him in the face.

The man flew back towards Buffy. She sidestepped and kicked him in the kidneys. He dropped to his knees and coughed up blood. Buffy grabbed him by the back of his neck, bringing him to his feet. He spun in her hand and kicked her to the ground. When she hit the ground, the gun Dawn took from Spike slid across the floor. Angel ran over and punched him once again. “Look, you’re going to lose,” he told the now almost broken man.

Dawn was still trying to wake up Faith. “Faith, please you have to wake up.” She looks at Spike for help. “Spike, we need to get these chains off. Can you break them?” The vampire grabs a hold of the chains and pulls.

“I can’t pet, they won’t break!” Spike yelled as he tried once more.

The now panicked teen turns to Willow. “Find the key…there has to be a key. I’m a key, damn it Willow, use me!” she cried in mindless horror as she too searched for the key.

The man looked into Angel’s eyes and laughed, “There is only one key…only one and I have it. You’ll have to kill me to get. You see I put in a place no one would want to look,” he said as he laughed harder.

Buffy walked up to him and pulled his head back by his hair. “Where is it,” she yelled in his face.

“Oh my, little slayer, only I know…only Daddy knows,” he told the fair-haired slayer. “So you see, you’ll have to kill me for the key,” he laughs again.

“You’re an ass…” He cuts her off, laughing almost hysterically. “Kill me and you’ll have it!”

“No problem!” Cordy walked over and before any of them can react, she pointed the gun at the top of his head and fired. Blood splattered all over Buffy. “Okay, strip him. I’ll get the fucking key.” She looked at Buffy covered in blood and gives her a small smirk. “So much for keeping our heads.”

Hearing the gun shot, Giles, Tara, and Amie ran into the cave. “Cordelia…good Lord, what have you done?” Giles asked as he stood staring at the very shocked blood spattered slayer. He reached for her but Cordelia stepped away from his hand.

The blood became too much for the blonde vampire. Spike took the chains and pulled with all his might. As the chains start to come away from the wall, a key falls to the floor. “There!” Willow yelled. She scooped the key up and hands it to Dawn. “Hurry, she needs a doctor!” Spike swept Faith into his arms and darts out of the cave. Dawn and the rest of the Scoobies follow close behind.

Angel made his way to the exit of the cave and looked back to see Cordy standing over the dead man’s body. He walked back to stand behind her. “We didn’t know his name,” she said as they looked on.

“Cordy, we should go.” Angel put his hand on her shoulder and led her out of the cave. As they reach the awaiting Jeep, Cordy stops and looks back in the direction of the cave. “We really should have known his name.” With nothing more to say, she got into the Jeep. Sitting by Willow, she laid her head on the witch’s shoulder and started crying, the shock of what she had just done washing over her as the adrenaline left her.