Catch you on the flipside

Sasha smiled down at Skye, taking a moment to look over the girl she noted the fresh and yes almost angelic look Skye now had, with her dark hair, olive toned skin and startlingly blue eyes…she was beautiful. She had never really noticed the girl on earth….sad because if the eulogies at the funeral were any indication she was a wonderful young woman.



“Who are you?” Sasha blinked in amazement….looking around she realized Skye had forgotten…it wasn’t unusual for spirits that come to heaven forget who they were or what they died for. But she had hoped Skye would remember…it was save her a trip through the maze of memory that was for sure.



Sighing she knelt back down, “I am Sasha…you knew me before you died.”



“Everyone keeps saying that…im not dead though”



“Yes, yes you are Skye. What do you remember?” Sasha asked, may as well find out just how bad it was.



“Nothing…just…rain and…a cat…that’s it”



“Do you know who your family is?” Sasha watched the sadness cross Skye’s face and she reached out and gently took her hand.



“No…that man…Giles, he says he helped raise me…and that…Anya person says she knew my moms…but I don’t remember it” Skye whispered, Sasha tried to smile encouragingly…what she was aiming to do…bring Skye back from the dead was a risky thing but it would be much more difficult if she didn’t remember.



She needed Skye’s spirit to mask her but also it was almost like a homing beacon…it would guide them back to the school, or at least close to it. If she grabbed some random person she could end up in India if she wasn’t careful.



“Will you come with me? I can give you your memories back” Sasha said standing; she held her hand out waiting for the young wolf to take it.



Hesitantly Skye reached out and grasped the clawed hand of the demon that had come to her. Somehow…she didn’t know but she knew this woman wouldn’t hurt her.



Standing she let Sasha lead her toward the portal…funny she hadn’t noticed it before. Turning she smiled and waved at the Englishman that had been so kind to her since he had come here.



*************



Chaye, Garret, David, Jaeger and Remy sat on top of the roof of the school, looking down at the ground far below them they carefully passed the bottle of scotch around between them. After stealig it from Willows Headmasters office they had taken the fire escape up here and had bravely been taking sips of the stuff.



Jaeger tried not to grimace at the way it burned down her throat as she passed it off to David, looking over at him she smiled, he had let her dye his hair…well part of it. His jet black hair now had a bright pink streak in the bangs that hung in his eyes. If Faith was as bad as everyone made her out to be when she was young David definitely inherited that trait.



Her ninth birthday was coming up, Mom had let them pick there own birthdays and she had chosen December 20th. Looking around at the twins they had just turned eleven, making Remy and David the eldest with David at thirteen, having gone through the change a month ago Jaeger could sense a difference in him, the pack now saw him as an adult and he was treated with the same responsibilities as his older relatives with only slight leniency because of Dawn and Faiths influence.



Looking down she smiled at the way everyone on the ground looked from up here, like tiny ants. Turning she stared in the distance…it was hard to tell sometimes that there had ever been anything but trees and vegetation. The town was so overgrown, earlier that month Faith and Mama had discovered that the zoo had been vacated by all wildlife and now they had to watch out for real lions and tigers. Not bears though…Faith had killed that one pretty fast when it had gotten violent.



The world was falling apart at the seams and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Garret had said that he had heard the grown ups talking about possible survivors. That hope had been squashed when Jaeger told them she had seen in her vision that there were survivors but they were all infected now.



“How far down do you think it is?” Chaye asked, leaning forward over the ledge.



“I don’t know…but don’t spit again…that was gross.” Remy said, taking a swig of the scotch.



“What do you thinks going to happen.” David said quietly fingering his now pink hair.



“What do you mean?” Chaye asked, quickly spitting over the edge, grinning as it fell to the ground.



“Well…the adults can’t hold it off forever. And Aunt Red doesn’t seem to be able to figure out where it came from. So…what’s going to happen if it’s still around when our parents die and we die? This place will be a wasteland.”



That was the most Jaeger had ever heard him speak before, he was right though. They were all kids, but so much older in so many ways. If the fact that she could take down someone twice her size in a fight, kill animals for food and identify seven indicators you were being followed were any sign.



“I don’t know…I guess it’s up to the Initiative after that.” Remy said, handing off the bottle to Chaye who eagerly took it and took great big gulps.



“I think they caused this.” Garret said before taking a drink. Jaeger rolled her eyes.



“They’re not smart enough to do this…besides wiping out humans kind of defeats there purpose.” Jaeger said, yanking the bottle away from Garret and glaring at him when he glowered and showed his teeth.



“Give it back” He growled. Jaeger narrowed her eyes and held it out far over the ledge.



“I can whip your ass…advanced strength or not.” Jaeger snapped, she hated it when they used there dominant abilities as leverage. She knew she couldn’t take me but she could kick him in the balls…that worked on anything.



“Yeah right…you’re just a girl”



“Look where you are you stupid ass….this right here proves girls are better than boys” Jaeger smiled when she heard David chuckle softly.



“Well they’re slayers…your just a human…tell me did your mommy swing on trees.”



Eyes narrowing Jaeger whipped her foot out and kicked him as hard as she could in the crotch before bring the bottle around and smacking him across the face with it.



When Chaye snarled and made to lunge for her. “STOP or ill kick you in the testicles!” She said firmly, watching as Chaye knelt down by his twin and poked at the rapidly growing bruise on his face.



“Come on Jaeger…lets go” Remy said, as he and David turned to leave the rooftop.



Once they left the roofs entrance David turned and looked at her, “They don’t mean that stuff Jaeger…I promise. They’re just….after Skye” David looked down and studied his sneakers.



“I know David…but don’t mean im going to let his say that stuff to me.” Jaeger said, turning she walked down the hallway to stairway entrance. Electricity was out, everything was on generators and even those were getting low.



*****************************



Buffy stood at the head of the library, watching as her ‘staff’ assembled. Willow, schools headmaster and as always Witch, Lonnie head of food provisions and alternative training, Faith and Kennedy, head slayers aside from her of course, Horus and Asher, school grounds maintained, Vikki, medical well anything, Dawn and Andrew supplies and power and Raya was head trainer and hunter.



Sighing Buffy sat down and looked around the table. “Okay people…where are we at this week…Willow?”



“The cloaking spell is holding, but I made some adjustments to it so now unless you are aware that the schools here it’s invisible and if someone were to unintentionally walking through the cloaking spell there’s an illusion of just forest and they’ll think they’re walking through the grounds but they’re walking around them instead.” Willow smiled happily, a spell of this strength was difficult to maintain but it was working.



“That’s great, Lonnie?” Buffy turned to her mate.



“Food stores from the kitchens are down another 20%....I went through and I estimated roughly two months of canned goods and dry goods left. Buffy we need to start hunting and gathering other foods from the woods” Lonnie said gravely…”On alternative training, we had two injuries this week when I was trying to show the girls how to set traps to catch larger game but other than that were okay. Also all the girls have passed the exams and now are proficient in sign language. So that’ll make it easier when hunting”



“Good…Kennedy and Faith?”



“The usual…killed thirty six vamps, seven lizard demons and three day walkers. As well as catching one and well im sure Doc will cover that.” Faith said, looking down at her notebook. “Yeah that’s it for us”



“Horus and Asher?”



“We had a team of slayers repair some breaking in the schools wall, everything’s alright otherwise, we did seal off the underground tunnel exit that leads out of the school though, now it can only be opened from the inside.” Asher said solemnly.



“Okay….Vikki?



“I examined the day walker that Kennedy brought in…I think I figured out something about the virus…it’s demonic” Vikki said, watching as the group looked around at one another.



“What do you mean?”



“The properties are similar to some airborne viruses and I know we knew there was something mystical about it but…well there are elements in it that aren’t on any medical charts or demon charts…I think we need to start thinking about the possibility of an apocalypse that we can’t stop.”



“Can you trace the source?” Buffy asked anxiously, trading worried looks with her wife.



“Well we know it started here…the first outbreak was in New York…it spread ten times faster that any virus before…its been nearly five years and we still don’t know shit about it…only thing we can figure is it only affects males…that’s it.”



“Well…keep on it…we have to find something sometime.” Buffy said, looking down at her hands, she grimaced when she realized that maybe Vikki was right…what if this was THE apocalypse.



TBC



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