Nocturnal Survivor: BtVS: Episode I - Part II
by slayerfest
A/N: This chapter involves a lot from a particularly mean Jeff Probst. I have nothing against the guy, personally. I guess I just couldn't carry on a proper story without a real bad guy. I'm sorry I used his name now, but the prospect of 'The Jeff Tribe' was just too great.
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DAY ONE
Buffy undertook the task of lighting the fire once the sun rose and succeeded after very little effort. Wesley slept, curled in a ball for warmth. Buffy left him that way on account of the fact that he was ill and she promised to give him piles of things to do when he was feeling better. Kennedy had started on plucking and gutting the birds, preparing them for cooking and then consumption. Buffy sent Dawn away to get a bucket of water from the well and pick up anything that was in the mail while she was at it. Tara sat on a boulder, staring into the fire, distracted by the bizarre absence of her lover in her mind. Xander did likewise, only with the added variable of hugging the dead hedgehog unconsciously. Buffy thought the situation far too amusing to disrupt and wished desperately that she had a camera.
Oz shortly appeared from the woods, his face much less feral and his eyes back to calm and intelligence with a hint of worry. “Spike’s safely hidden away in a small cave near the well. It’s not hard to find, but I can show you where it is. We could go now, if you’d like. It’s only about a half-hour walk,” he said, motioning his eyes toward the woods. Buffy got the message and told Kennedy where they were going in case Wesley woke up or Dawn came back or something.
“Thanks for sharing your wolf cave, Oz. That was nice of you,” Buffy said as they stepped into the woods. Buffy eyed the blanket hanging low between the trees and giggled lightly at the mental image of Spike being thrown into the air.
“Oh, that’s not my wolf cave. It wouldn’t do the job. I haven’t found a proper place yet, but I’ve got a week or so, so I think it’ll turn out all right. And it’s no problem about Spike; it’s the least I can do for my bodyguard.”
Buffy winced. “You overheard that conversation, huh?”
“Oh, not really. Spike just decided to tell me all about it on the way over here.”
“What? Damnit, Spike! I’m so sorry, Oz.”
“Oh, no, don’t be. I’m glad he told me, actually. It makes my rant easier because you seem to understand even though I haven’t said anything yet.”
The Slayer looked curiously at the small gent and was amazed as he seemed to prepare himself for his speech. Oz had always seemed such a together guy to her; she’d seen him worked up about Willow’s safety and/or happiness, but not much else. And now here he was, bracing himself to come to grips with the fact that something wasn’t quite the way he wanted.
“There’s something not right about this island,” he started slowly after a deep breath. “From the second you got me out of my barrel, I sensed something not right about the island. I felt something similar about myself not long after. The rice floated away, and I lunged in there and got it.
“I hate swimming, Buffy. I always have. I don’t know why, but there’s just something about excessive amounts of water that gets me a little claustrophobic. But not last night. I dove right in there and had the time of my life swimming about. Eventually I got out of the water and ran around in the woods all night. It was sort of amazing, actually. I just had all this energy that I couldn’t wait to get rid of, but it wasn’t the healthy kind of energy; it reminded me of the way I get right before the full moon rises. Very jumpy and mildly feral. I wasn’t comfortable with the way I killed the fowl so easily and without remorse. If there’s one thing Willow’s taught me, it’s a love for animals.
“I’m not right at night here. It’s like it’s always sunset on a full moon. The sun was coming, and I knew I’d get better when it got here, so I asked to speak with you. I wanted to ask you specifically to keep me in line, but it didn’t occur to me that I might bite you. I’m glad you’ve got Spike on the case, and I want you to keep him that way.”
Buffy nodded slowly and kept silent for minutes after Oz had finished his lament. They walked at a leisurely pace through the woods and maintained a silence that Buffy found very comfortable. She’d always thought Oz would be a very good person to become friends with, but had never really been alone with him for long periods of time. He was happy to be silent and Buffy really respected that about him. He didn’t push for a response. He just waited.
“I’ve never heard you say that much about anything aside from Willow.”
“I know.”
“Did it feel good to get that off your chest?”
Oz thought for a second. “You know, it really did.”
Buffy nodded. “I asked Spike to keep an eye on you, Oz. I told him to bring you down to earth if you got out of control. But I don’t trust Spike that much. I wouldn’t let him be in total reign with you; he’s too eager to get a good fight in. I planned, and still am planning, to keep an eagle eye on your behavior. I don’t know you well, Oz, but I understand the basics of what you’re about, and I know you don’t want anyone to get hurt, especially at your own expense. I’m looking out for you. I guess I just want you to know that.”
“Thank you,” Oz said after a pause, “But it’s not just me.”
“You mean the island’s got a freaky deal behind it?”
“Basically.”
Buffy made a small vocal noise and pouted. “I don’t sense anything.”
“You’re a Slayer. You’re designed to sense demon activity. This is different.” Oz watched as Buffy nodded, and then noticed that she looked different than he remembered. Older. “Buffy…” he asked slowly, “how old are you now?”
“I’m 22,” she responded a tad skeptically, but didn’t ask why he was asking.
Oz nodded for a long time, and then remained silent until they reached the cave. He pointed it out and then suggested they turn back and try to get some sleep. Buffy agreed but again didn’t say anything. By the time they got back to camp, Dawn was asleep beside Tara and Kennedy on the warm sand, and Xander was asleep under the enchanted blanket, curled into a ball and with the hedgehog by his head. Wesley had not moved from the small patch of grass he had unknowningly claimed as his own. Oz settled himself on the ground beside the fire gracefully and just watched it for a while, trying to figure out what he had just discovered. He waited until Buffy fell asleep by the other females of the tribe and decided to go up the mountain to see what he could see.
**MEANWHILE…**
Angel scrambled through the woods in a desperate search for something to hide under. The sun was going to rise in about two minutes and the blanket had thrown him about until he’d finally given up, deciding that when the sun rose, the blanket would throw him up and he would come back down as dust. He could simply hide amongst the trees, but the wind was ever-present on small tropical islands, and he couldn’t risk the tossing of the leaves aside if he wanted to win this large sum of cash. Wesley and Cordelia could use a bonus back home, he decided.
Eventually, the vampire found himself a massive leaf and threw himself violently onto the ground, throwing it over top of him and holding it down with his shoes. He felt the sun rise seconds later and was immensely relieved that the sun didn’t go through the leaf; he felt a touch of warmth on his skin, but nothing to the magnitude of combusting.
Back at camp, Willow reached over and picked up one of the bizarre fruits that surrounded Riley. She turned it over a few times and tried to smell it, but when her face came too close to it, it bit her nose and squirmed out of her grip.
“Ow!” She brought her hands up to her face. Riley saw the event and bent down in front of Willow, trying to get her to move her hands away so he and his army training could have a look. Her eyes started to tear up and she could feel her nose start to swell. “Ow…”
Cordelia picked up another of the fruit as the sun started to rise, and the whole lot of them stood up suddenly and ran away. “Hey!” she shouted as the one she was holding squirmed out of her grip and caught up with the rest. “Hey, come back here! You were breakfast!” Faith laughed indifferently and Anya stood up and started to run after the fruit, lecturing them at high volume about table manners.
Giles, feeling much more like Giles again quite suddenly, joined Riley in crouching by Willow and trying to convince her to move her hands away from her face so Riley could take a look. She listened to them both tearfully but shook her head whenever they suggested such a thing.
Faith stood up and announced that she was going to find something else to eat. She looked around and noticed that since the boss was out of commission for the day, she was probably in charge now. Just to test out her new power, she told Cordelia to go get some water from the well, and Cordelia did so without argument. With a satisfied grin, Faith decided to track Anya down and tell her to do something, too.
“Willow, look. Now there’s no one around but me and Giles. You trust us, right?” Riley asked. Willow nodded, and Riley smiled. “So why don’t you let me have a look? You know that I’ll have a better chance of fixing it if I know what I’m dealing with, right?” Willow nodded and reluctantly took her hands away from her nose, more tears falling from her eyes.
“Good Lord,” breathed Giles, unaware that he’d said anything. Riley simply recoiled in surprise. Willow whimpered and put her hands back to her face, shaking her head emphatically.
“Yeah, actually… it’s probably best if you just… keep doing that for a while,” Riley suggested tentatively. Willow decided not to be offended and nodded. Riley motioned to Giles that they should have a little conversation away from the sensitive ears of that who it involves. Giles put a reassuring hand on Willow’s shoulder and stepped away to join Riley by the shore.
“In all my years as Watcher, and all the years before that as a dabbler in the black arts, never have I seen anything so appalling.”
“It’s new to me, too… but then again, I’ve never seen a live pear before in such a literal sense.”
“I imagine they were… sleeping.”
“I thought maybe I felt them breathing when I found them in perfect condition littering the ground. Then again, they was lying right under an evergreen, so maybe I should have suspected something…”
Giles frowned. “What are evergreens doing in a tropical forest?”
Riley raised his eyebrows. “Then there’s that.”
Giles sighed and shook his head. “I don’t like this.”
“Me neither. What should we do about Willow?”
Giles ran his hand restlessly through his hair. “I’m not sure. Do you have any idea how to… stop it?”
Riley shook his head slowly. “I can’t even try with the resources we have. Or, the lack thereof.”
“All right, then. Talk to Willow and determine as much about what she’s feeling as you can. I have to delve into the woods for a few hours, and I hope to come back with some minor solution to her little… problem.” Giles set off into the forest, searching for something he hoped would return Willow’s face back to normal. The poor girl won’t even be able to eat, the Watcher thought sadly.
**MEANWHILE…**
Buffy blinked herself awake slowly. The light was very bright and she was a little more than warm in her sweater under the scorching sun, but that wasn’t what had woken it up. Nor was it the sound of the fire crackling enthusiastically. It was the surprisingly sweet smell of chicken being baked.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, eventually looking up at the sky to try and see what time it was. She’d tried to check her watch the evening prior but had found it meticulously missing, as did every other member of the tribe. She estimated that it was maybe two or three in the afternoon.
“Hey,” Oz greeted her quietly.
“Hi.” She looked over and saw him seated on a boulder near the fire, keeping an eagle eye on the poultry he was cooking. He looked a tad tired, but he was also apparently quite deep in thought. She looked around her and saw that no one else was awake. She wondered how Wesley could sleep so long. “Smells good.”
“Does it?”
“Really sweet, actually. I wouldn’t have expected that from such small birds.”
Oz nodded. “I got hungry, so I decided to cook them up. Besides, they were starting to attract flies.”
Buffy smiled. “I like my food fly-free, thanks.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Oh, it’s no problem.” She stood and staggered ungracefully to where Oz was, sitting beside him. “It’s probably time I got up anyway. If I sleep too long, I get really restless when I wake up and I go on an extra-special slaying frenzy, which isn’t really an option on this little vacation.” She sighed.
“You miss the slaying, huh?”
She nodded and smiled grimly. “Already, and it’s been, what, 36 hours since I last poofed a guy? It’ll be a miracle if I last 36 days.”
“You’ll do it. You and I, we’ll be the ones battling it out for the million at the end.”
Buffy smiled. “Oh, that’ll be interesting. Worthy of television.”
Oz rarely smiled, but he did so now. He looked about. “Look, Buffy, I really hate to put you on the spot, but if I’ve heard correctly, this game is about kicking people off the island. I’m not so okay with that. Judging has never been my strong point, mostly because I just don’t really care, but I’m barely willing to send my friends, all of whom deserve the money more than I, home because of greed.”
Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Are you copping out, Oz?”
The werewolf shook his head. “I said barely willing. I’m still fixed on the idea that I’m going to win against you.” Buffy smiled. “But you’re really looking out for me here, making sure I don’t maim the general populous and make more of my curse. I guess I’m trying to say that I won’t be voting you off. As long as you’re still in the game, I won’t be voting for you.”
Buffy smiled warmly. “Wow, Oz. I appreciate that. But…”
“I’m not asking for anything in return. If you want to vote for me, that’s your choice. No grudge.”
The Slayer nodded. “Good. I just didn’t want to give you a false impression. I’ve already guaranteed Spike immunity from my ballot, and if it’s between us three, I’ve got to vote for you, and I don’t want to lie to you. But unless you give me a reason, Oz, I don’t see any other reason I should vote for you.”
Oz smiled at the fire and nodded. They remained in comfortable silence again. It seemed to be a trend with these two. Oz soon reached down beside him and brought up a slab of bark with something carved into it. “Got the mail,” he said shortly, and handed it to Buffy without looking at her.
Buffy gaped. “And you waited until now to give this to me because…”
“Other things are more important.”
Buffy couldn’t help but chuckle a little to herself at Oz’s kind and short sentences before bending over the wood and reading it over several times.
**MEANWHILE…**
“Well, that was uneventful,” Anya announced as she stomped her way out of the forest. “I went looking for food, which is much less interesting than it sounds when there’s no food to be found.”
Riley stood and stepped away from Willow, who had stopped crying but was still looking extremely unhappy with her little situation. “You didn’t find anything?” he asked.
“Nothing. Not a thing. I thought I saw a flock of the pears run by, but it just turned out to be a bunch of very plump birds. They didn’t seem to be the most intelligent birds in the world… I probably could have caught them if I wanted to.”
Riley blinked a few times. “So… why didn’t you catch them, then?”
“Well, they aren’t food. They’re just birds.”
“Yeah, but there’s a trick to birds,” Faith said as she carried a pail full of water; she’d obviously made the pail out of an old tree on the spot. Riley and his army training couldn’t help notice the mastery with which the object was made. “See, first you kill ‘em. Then you cook ‘em. And voila! You got yourself food.”
Anya scowled at the Slayer. “Well, I knew that.”
Faith opened her mouth to ask Anya a fairly rude question about her lack of intelligence, but thought better of it and smiled at Riley instead. She kept having to remind herself that being mean to people who can kick you off the island and cheat you out of one million dollars isn’t the wisest plan there ever was. “Where’s Giles?” she asked Riley.
“He went looking for something to cure Willow with. What happened to Cordelia? I thought she was getting water.”
“I tracked her down and sent her looking for food instead. That ditz wouldn’t be able to make a sturdy carrier for the water if she had a twenty-page instruction booklet. What’s wrong with Willow, anyhow?”
Riley hesitated. “Uh… well, it’s interesting.” Willow made muffled vocal noises that sounded like she was yelling, only without opening her mouth. “Okay, so maybe not interesting so much as… unfortunate. It’s unfortunate, that’s what it is.”
“Quit stalling. What’s her deal?”
Riley was spared the explanation and Willow was spared the humiliation as Cordelia ran screaming from the trees and right into the ocean. She dove under quite intentionally and stayed under for a long time as a hoard of flies the size of her head buzzed after her, hovering above the water and awaiting her inevitable surface for air. Faith forgot about interrogating Willow and collapsed into a spiel of laughter, clutching her stomach and letting the tears run down her face when Cordelia broke surface and screamed again. Riley threw off his t-shirt and dove in after her, swimming at an impressive pace and catching up to her. He yelled something which she evidently understood, and the two of them disappeared underwater. The flies remained.
Willow was so enthralled with the whole series of events that she unconsciously took her hands away from her face. Faith soon stopped laughing at Cordelia and her flies and soon started laughing again once she took a look at Willow’s face, rolling over and over on the sand, totally unable to control herself. Willow noticed and her face fell. She replaced her hands over her nose and mouth. She looked over at Anya and realized that she, at least, hadn’t seen.
She was too busy staring into the ocean with immense concern in her eyes that Willow had never seen before. Eventually she spoke: “I don’t think they’re coming up.”
Willow’s eyes whipped over to where Cordy and Riley had last been seen, and realized that Anya was right; they’d been under for a terribly long time. Too long, in fact. The flies seemed to understand this, too… they buzzed close to the water as though staring into it, and promptly flew back into the woods, ignoring the three women still sitting at camp.
“Oh, God,” Willow said into her hands. She jumped and noticed that despite the unfortunate state of her face, she was still able to speak. Maybe not eat or drink, actions that were far more important, but she could speak.
“I don’t like this,” Anya stated. Faith finally stopped laughing and noticed that the other two were staring quite effectively at nothing. She saw that the giant flies were gone and figured out that Willow and Anya were so pale because Riley and Cordelia had both disappeared. She joined in the staring into the horizon. They remained that way for minutes, barely blinking, refusing to believe what seemed terribly apparent.
Giles ran promptly into camp, holding something yellow by a stem at the top of its head. The thing was whistling and waving its tiny, almost cartoonic arms and legs around wildly to no avail. “All right, Willow, I’ve found the culprit. I’m hoping that if I cook him up… and provide you with a straw… you should be able to eat him properly, and he might cure your… unfortunate condition.” He waited for a thrilled response from the redhead, but when he got none, he held up the other object in his hand. “In my travels, I passed the well as well and found this impressively crafted piece of bark. It’s telling us of our first challenge. I believe it says something about a reward.” Still nothing. “Good Lord, are you all asleep on your feet?”
Anya finally turned, eyes threatening tears. “Cordelia and Riley disappeared underwater at least ten minutes ago. They haven’t come up for air since.”
Giles stared. “Oh.”
**MEANWHILE…**
Buffy walked carefully up the small, steep slope that lead to the cave. She didn’t trust her balance because she was extremely hungry, but she did trust Oz’s slow cooking technique and expected to quell her hunger upon her return to camp. She stumbled ungracefully into the much cooler shade of the cave and took in her surroundings.
Spike lay sprawled in the darkest corner, shirt off and crumpled beneath his head in a makeshift pillow. A small animal carcass lay near the entrance; obviously a failed attempt to throw it out of the cave completely, and Spike hadn’t dared to come near the sun to kick it the rest of the way out.
“Come on in, pet. Make yourself at home.” The vampire spoke without opening his eyes.
Buffy smiled slightly. “I didn’t know if you were awake.”
“I wasn’t. I’m always aware of your presence.”
Buffy’s smile widened into a grin. “You know that’s creepy beyond all measures, right?”
Spike smiled back at her, opening his eyes and turning his head so he faced her. “I am a vampire, after all.” He propped himself up on one elbow. “So, what brings you to my humble abode? Surely it can’t be the comfy chairs.”
The Slayer shook her head. “No, I just came to tell you that we’ve got a reward challenge two hours after sunset tonight.”
Spike raised his eyebrows. “That so? What’ve we got to do?”
“Doesn’t say. Just a bunch of rhyming about, ‘beware, blah blah, reward, blah blah, beware.’”
Spike laughed aloud. “Yeah, well, we knew the host was a wanker when he named our tribe after himself.” The vampire cocked his head and regarded the Slayer with an evenness that made Buffy a tad nervous. Her hair looked more golden than blonde here; maybe it was the intensified sun, he decided. He watched her without blinking while she looked around the cave, clearly wanting to strike conversation but too hungry to want to stay long. He nodded toward the entrance of the cave. “You can go, love.”
“Are… are you sure? Because I can stay. You look like you need the company.”
“And you look like you need the food. Tell you what. You come visit me once a day and I’ll be all right. Daylight’s always bloody annoying, but at least I have a little one-on-one with the real Slayer to look forward to.”
Buffy frowned at the vampire. “Why are you suddenly being so open about your feelings for me?”
Spike smiled and frowned at the same time, probably something only a vampire could do. “I’m not rightly sure. Does it bother you?”
Buffy paused. “I’m not sure yet.” She gave Spike a final smile and walked out of the cave without so much as a backward glance. Spike watched her go and stayed awake for a long time after, waiting for the daylight hours to tick by.
By the time Buffy got back to camp, everyone was awake and chowing down on roasted bird. No one was saying anything because they were too busy appreciating the meal that Oz and Oz alone provided. She noticed a plate made of bark set aside for her, complete with half a bird and a small pile of berries that were obviously found and picked by Dawn. Buffy sat down heavily on the tree stump Kennedy had uprooted and ate undaintily with the rest.
Oz finished first and put his plate down. He looked around at all the faces who were clearly enjoying his food, and he decided that now would be as good a time as any. “I was walking with Buffy in the woods at sunrise this morning when I realized that she looks older than I remember ever seeing her. I asked her how old she was and she mentioned that she was 22. She answered the question straight and without hesitation, and didn’t catch on to why I was asking. Now I ask her another question: Buffy, what year is it?”
The Slayer frowned at Oz and swallowed hard. “2003,” she said thickly through the lovely poultry.
Oz nodded and smiled as Xander waved his hand around in protest. “Hold up here, Buff. I’m under the serious impression that it’s only 2002.”
Dawn frowned. “Actually, Xander, I’ve gotta side with Buffy on this one. It’s 2003.”
Wesley looked up and about from his plate, looking less pale than he had yesterday and much more alert. “Terribly sorry, but last time I checked it was only 2000.”
“Gotta say that I’m a proud member of 2003, too,” Kennedy interjected.
Tara looked around at everyone. “Am I the only one who thinks it’s 2001?”
Oz smiled at the witch across from him. “Don’t worry, I’m still back in the 90s. 1999, to be specific. We’re all in different time frames.”
Xander scoffed into his food. “Well, that explains the lack of Anya in my mind.”
Buffy looked up with a dawning look of comprehension. “I wondered why I was so happy to be talking to you, Oz. It’s because I don’t think I’ve seen you in years.”
“Oh,” he responded with a frown. “Well, that’s not promising.” Then he looked up at the other Slayer of the crowd. “Kennedy, have we met?”
“No…” she said slowly. “But I know who you are and everything about you. I also know Tara, but I doubt we’ve met either for reasons I can’t remember. I know that we’re all Willow-oriented, though, like we’ve all been with Willow at some point. And we all are with Willow, at our given times… wow. This is nuts.”
Oz nodded. “But then the question becomes, where is Willow in all of this? What year is she in?”
“Or is she even on the other tribe?” Tara asked, eyes glistening against the sun. “M-maybe she’s exempt from all this madness because she’s not even on the island?”
“We can only hope,” Oz and Kennedy said simultaneously.
“Well, I think the main thing is that we can’t let this come between us,” Tara said. “If we figured out the years, we know when Willow will be with the other ones. Or… you know.”
“But I’m not jealous,” Kennedy responded. “I don’t even care. Well, I guess I’m furthest in the future, but…”
“No, I’m not, either. I know this is the way it’s supposed to be, and when I get home to my own proper time, it’ll all be okay again. I may not even remember.” Oz resigned to putting his thought back inside his head as Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Wesley watched this little exchange as though they were watching a tennis match. When their sub-conversation about Willow seemed to end, Buffy allowed her own mind to wander. “I wonder where Spike’s at,” she said aloud.
“We’ll ask him when it’s night. It’s about five, it should be getting dark soon, anyway,” Dawn noticed. She turned to Buffy. “I wonder if we’re on the same wavelength because we’re sisters?”
Buffy thought about it, and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it’s just coincidence. Why is Kennedy in the same year, too?”
Dawn wrinkled her nose in thought. “I guess.”
“Well, I imagine the other tribe is going through something similar. Surely someone’s noticed the anomaly over there as well,” Wesley said.
**MEANWHILE…**
Giles placed the squealing pear into the kettle that had been provided to them. They both watched the pear and nodded approvingly when went from squealing to release it to yelling in agony.
“Oh…” Willow said, looking at the melting pear with disdain, watching it flail its arms and legs around wildly. “I feel so bad.”
“Probably because…” Faith began.
“Shh! Don’t say it out loud,” Willow warned her, still refusing to take her hands away from her face.
The Slayer rolled her eyes. “You’re gonna have to come to grips with it eventually, Red. Somehow I doubt this pear torture is going to do much for ya. Though it is hilarious from my perspective.”
“What, the funny ‘my face’ situation, or the dying pear?” Willow asked sarcastically.
“Both,” she responded seriously.
Anya still looked disdainfully into the ocean, watching the sun start to set and not shielding her eyes from the orange rays. Giles noticed and went over to her. “There’s nothing we can do,” he said softly.
“Sure there is. We can wait,” she responded, not looking away.
“No, Anya. It’s been hours. They’re gone.”
“They can’t be gone. People aren’t just gone. They were here, so they have to come back.”
Giles put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be all right.”
“No, it isn’t, Giles! I went through this when… well, someone died, and I couldn’t understand it, and I asked a whole bunch of questions but no one would answer me and I didn’t understand what death was and I still don’t. I don’t want to. People don’t just… go. I mean, they can go, but they can’t go without going. It’s not possible. I don’t understand.” The tears started pouring down Anya’s face, glinting on her cheeks with the final rays of sun. Giles didn’t say a word, but he didn’t leave her side, either. They watched the sun set slowly and tried desperately to ignore the final whimpers of the destitute pear.
Angel threw the giant leaf off himself majestically and stretched. “Well, that was uncomfortable,” he said into the silence. He looked down at his makeshift home that he’d been stuck under for the past twelve hours and the vampire inside him wanted to rip it to shreds. He was about to do it, too, before he decided it might be a slightly better idea to keep it and bring it back to camp in case he couldn’t find somewhere else to hide in the days coming. He settled for kicking it aggressively, and then he picked it up and started making his way back to where he thought camp was.
He walked for ten minutes before he decided he was going in entirely the wrong direction. He turned and jumped at Drusilla, who was about six inches from where he was standing. “How long have you been following me?” he asked her, annoyed.
“I’m not sure…” she said dreamily. “I only followed the pretty leaf, and here you are, all attached to it. Coincidences are so…”
“Yeah, whatever.” He brushed her crazy-talk off easily. Too much practice, he decided. “Do you know which way camp is? I’m usually much better at navigation than this. I didn’t smell you, either… I can’t smell anything, really. I guess I’m coming down with a cold.”
“Oh, no!” Drusilla said, a look of pure horror striking her face. “My poor Angel has attracted an immune system… ooooh… his heart must be positively beating…”
Angel rolled his eyes and brushed past her. “I was being sarcastic.”
“Oh.” Drusilla smiled and trotted after him. “All right, then.” Drusilla followed him closely but stayed mostly silent… she sang to a beetle and cried about a broken mushroom, but was otherwise on her sanest behavior. At least, until they ran into the dead people.
“Cordelia? …Finn? What are you doing out here?”
Cordelia huddled close to Riley and spoke through chattering teeth. “I was out looking for food and these giant bees started chasing after me. I ran into the water to try and escape them, but they wouldn’t leave.” Her face took on a slightly dreamier quality. “Riley dove in to save me. He was so brave.” Riley blushed slightly and Angel tried desperately not to gag.
“Riley saved you, huh?” he said slightly sarcastically. Cordelia obviously didn’t catch it.
“Yeah. Without any hesitation. Just threw his shirt right off and swam out to me in, like, six seconds. He told me that there was an opening a little ways under water and the bees would probably lose our scent if we went through it.”
Riley cleared his throat and regarded the vampire with embarrassment and less hatred than usual. He seemed to be acknowledging that Cordelia was very silly when it came to attractive males that saved her life. “Yeah, well, little did I know that the cave led to the well. Low water level, mossy walls, no leverage. Fortunately, we could barely touch the bottom, so we haven’t been treading water for twelve hours or anything.”
“Yeah. Fortunately.”
Again, the subtle sarcasm from the vampire with a soul was missed. “So nothing happened for a good long while. It started getting dark. Then Cordy had this idea that we should throw rocks at the bucket and try to tip it in here so I could climb up the rope and get out. It worked. So now we’ve been rambling through the woods trying to find camp.”
“Yep, us too. So explain to me why you didn’t just wait a while and then swim back through the passageway to camp?” Angel asked with a smirk.
Riley opened his mouth to respond sarcastically, and then frowned when he realized that Angel was really, really right. Cordelia’s face dawned understanding at Angel’s words and she looked up at him with an expression of pure annoyance with herself and Riley. “Geez,” she muttered. “I wish you’d have saved me from the killer bees instead.”
The shirtless soldier’s face screamed betrayal as he turned to Cordelia. “Hey! Just a second ago, you were singing my praises!”
Cordelia regarded him with a strange look on her face. “Jealous much?” She turned to Angel. “Let’s go,” she said, and brushed passed him in the direction that he and Drusilla had just come.
“Uh, Cordy, we just came from that way.”
“Yeah, and Riley and I were heading north from the well. Camp’s this way,” she instructed without looking back. Riley gave Angel a dirty look and ran to catch up with her. Angel sighed and followed.
“Ohh, the wind screams at me. Those two are wicked, they are,” Drusilla stated as she scurried after Angel.
He laughed. “For once, Dru, I think you might be onto something there.”
NIGHT TWO
Buffy’s foot connected unexpectedly with a root and she tumbled forward through a bush to see nine startled faces looking back at her. “Hey, look. I win,” she said, and poked her head back through the bush to tell the rest of the team that she’d found the location.
Jeff Probst sat on a chair probably fit for a lifeguard and smiled smugly. “Good of you to join us, Jeff Tribe.”
Xander scrambled through the bush and caught himself before he fell onto his face. “Yeah, well, sorry we’re late. Our undead navigation system went on the fritz,” he explained, jabbing a thumb backwards and nearly poking out Wesley’s eye.
“And yet I’m the only one who noticed the end of the hedge about ten feet from where the rest of you morons pushed your way through it,” Spike said smugly, walking out into the arena. Xander stepped forward, saw the opening Spike was referring to, and cursed under his breath. Then his face matched Buffy’s as he noticed the other tribe staring at them from thirty feet away.
“Oh, bugger,” Spike said as he saw who Buffy was staring at.
“Hi,” she said breathlessly.
“Hey,” Angel returned, smiling faintly.
“Anya?” Xander whispered.
“Xander?” she said back.
“Look, I know Riley’s a swell guy and all, but I think that maybe I should be the one you’re hugging right about now,” he commented. Anya finally unlatched her arms from Riley’s middle and ran toward Xander enthusiastically. They met in the middle and kissed passionately.
“Aw,” Willow managed, face perfectly back to normal. She was shortly ambushed by a crowd of Tara, Oz and Kennedy, all of whom were slightly hesitant to make contact, but all of whom wanted to see her. Kennedy hugged her first, then Tara, and finally Oz, who was doing his best not to become half-wolf until after the challenge. Willow glanced from face to face and looked very perplexed about the whole situation.
Spike came up and stood next to Buffy, staring at Angel with matching intensity to Buffy’s, but in a totally different sense. Riley came up and stood next to Angel, still massaging his side where Anya had been hugging him too tightly for the past hour or so. “Hey,” he said quietly, nodding his head.
Buffy glanced from Angel to Riley. “Oh. Hi! …Oh. Geez. That must be awkward for you,” she mumbled. Spike roared with laughter as he imagined the terrible time both these gents of Buffy’s love life must be having. He knew that if there was one person who hated Soldier boy more than he did, it was Angel.
The other six participants stood idly in a group, all awkwardly saying hello to each other and waiting for a spirited greeting just like the others were getting. Giles found a particularly sharp-looking rock and started to clean under his nails with it indifferently, realizing he was stepping back into Ripper mode and not caring much one way or the other.
“All right, tribes, if you could maybe separate yourselves so I can hand out your tribal scarves, that’d be great,” Jeff called over the contestants. The crowd slowly stepped away from each other, Xander and Anya the last to part. The host jumped down from his lifeguard chair with a handful of scarves that matched his shirt. “Here you are, Jeff Tribe,” he said pompously, handing them out one by one.
Faith raised an eyebrow. “’The Jeff Tribe?’” she scoffed. “Man, and I thought we were bad off with being ‘The Probst Tribe.’”
Jeff looked hurt. “What’s wrong with those names?”
Kennedy laughed. “Are you joking? You’re joking, right?”
Jeff frowned. Giles also laughed at the host’s stupid expression as he neared the other tribe. “What she’s trying to say, you ignorant burke, is that you can’t just go prancing about naming our tribes after yourself. That’s like me naming my dog after myself. It’s bloody stupid, if you ask me,” he finished as Jeff reluctantly gave him a scarf the same colour as his pants.
Spike raised an eyebrow and stepped back from Giles. “That Watcher had better watch it. He’s startin’ to sound like me a bit.”
Cordelia squealed in delight as she got the scarf. “Be right back,” she said, and hurriedly disappeared behind an ample bush. She returned seconds later wearing the scarf as a shirt. “Finally, something warm to wear. So, Jeff, what’s the challenge?”
Jeff didn’t say anything.
“Aw, now we’ve gone and hurt his ickle feelings,” Spike said tauntingly.
“Have not!”
“All right. Go ahead, then.”
Jeff pouted as he climbed slowly back into his lifeguard chair. Then he sat up straight and looked at them all with authority and superiority again. “All right. Has anyone gotten fire yet?” Members of both tribes put up their hands. “Whaaat? Already?” Jeff whined, then re-regained his composure. “All right, fine. Has anyone found food yet?” Oz smiled triumphantly as all members, Spike exempt, raised their hands instantly and proudly. The Probst Tribe remained motionless. They’d given up the hunt and had earlier cracked open their stash of rice, eating it enthusiastically before Giles stopped them when he realized that this rice was supposed to last them another month.
“Well,” continued the host in a way that only a man who’s eaten well in the past twelve hours can speak. “Here’s your reward: One person from each tribe will be sent away to a lovely cabin the rest of tonight and tomorrow until the immunity challenge, complete with comfortable beds, a warm fire, and a large buffet. Yes, it will have delectables for those of the blood-sucking variety, too; warmed human blood if you’re soulless, the best pig’s blood there is if you’re not.
“So here’s how you’re going to win.” Jeff clapped his hands and a dozen cameramen came and whipped a sheet away from a hefty apparatus. “Two people will compete per round, one from each team. The four people from each team that complete the course the slowest will move on, two people from each team will move on from that round, and the final round will determine the winners. There will also be a small prize for the slowest round made. Any questions?”
“Just one,” Spike said. “What the hell is that?” he asked, pointing to the thing the gents had just uncovered.
Jeff smiled. “You’ll see. Now, you’ve been selected to compete against those of mostly equal skill and strength, and Buffy and Faith, you’re our first lucky contestants. Step up to these little trumpet-shaped things. I’ll count you down.”
The two Slayers approached as Jeff instructed. “Count us down to… what, exactly?”
Jeff’s smile didn’t disappear. “You’ll see, I said. Ready, in three, two, one…”
The crowd took a collective intake of breath. Buffy and Faith had completely disappeared. There seemed to be some sort of coloured light going through the mess of pipes, one leading occasionally, the other always catching up. Spike snarled and stepped forward boldly, inspecting the machine. When he couldn’t figure out a way to get Buffy back, he morphed his face and climbed up the chair before Jeff even knew what was going on. “Bring her back,” the vampire demanded, lifting the host up by his collar and threatening to throw him the ten feet to the ground. Jeff smiled and laughed despite his imminent doom, and pointed to some pipes identical to the ones Buffy and Faith had disappeared through just as Buffy ungracefully got thrown out of one. Faith followed not far after. They both coughed and sputtered on the ground as Spike left Jeff alone to make sure the blonde Slayer was all right.
“Well, Faith won that thrilling round. I use the term ‘won’ in such a way that suggests that Faith tumbled out second, but she’s closer to the reward than Buffy. But that doesn’t mean Buffy’s out of the picture yet; if more than four people beat her, then she still may well win. That was spectacular, girls. You may take a seat,” he told them. He then clapped his hands and the rest of the group watched in amazement as a small scoreboard above the weird machine flipped to Buffy and Faith’s names, and then numbers flipped to show how long they took. Buffy has a time of 45.97 seconds; Faith with a time of 48.06.”
“Why slowest time?” asked Willow skeptically, helping Faith to sit down as she continued to cough and hack.
Jeff smiled and didn’t say a word. Buffy saved him the trouble. “The reason people aren’t doing this alone is because they’re fighting against each other in there. Faith and I were brought to some kind of poorly pixelated arena. I say pixelated because it was exactly like an arcade game. I don’t know how to describe it. Just do your best and you’ll be fine,” she finished croakily, bending over and sending out a new spell of coughs. Spike talked her slowly through it, and he actually seemed to be helping. Angel and Riley tried very hard not to stake the gent in question.
“Kennedy and Drusilla, you’re up next,” Jeff stated, still smiling that pompous smile.
The process repeated. Drusilla tumbled out of the machine first, and promptly started crying. Angel hurried over to rescue her despite his strong dislike for the insane vamp. The times on the scoreboard flipped, and Kennedy was in the lead above Buffy but not above Faith.
Then it was Spike and Angel, of which Angel won; followed by Riley and Oz, of which Riley won; then it was Cordelia and Tara (Tara won), followed by Dawn and Willow (Dawn won), and Xander against Anya (Xander tumbled out first, which didn’t surprise many). Finally it was the two Watchers. Wesley came out in about thirty seconds, while Giles took almost twice as long. He was in the lead by far, followed by Faith, Anya, and Kennedy.
All were trembling like mad when Jeff applauded the final time and the scoreboard flipped to show who made it to the second round and who got disqualified. He gave a blast of laughter and turned to the sputtering contestants.
“On the Jeff Tribe, people who got to the second round are currently: Kennedy, Dawn, Buffy and, I think this took everyone by surprise, Tara.”
“What?!” exclaimed Spike.
“One the Probst Tribe,” Jeff shouted over Spike’s profanities, “Giles, Faith, Anya, and Oz.
“However, if any of you wish to quit now, the next people get automatically nominated. Does anyone wish to withdraw? Keep in mind that it’ll be much more challenging now because we won’t be able to match you with someone of your ability; someone like Anya might be set against a Slayer, for instance.”
“Did you use me as an example because you think I should quit? Because I’m not. Let’s do this,” Anya said enthusiastically, though she winced and collapsed into a fresh set of coughs once she stood.
Jeff smiled. “No one wishes to quit? All right. Let’s go. Kennedy versus Giles.”
Giles apparently wasn’t consistent with his standards of winning; he tumbled out of the machine first and Kennedy found her way out in about 55 seconds, still not beating his record. Dawn and Faith went next, Faith winning by a sizable margin. Buffy and Anya went, Buffy winning quite emphatically, too, and finally Tara and Oz went, Tara unable to take it and tumbling out of the machine barely ten seconds after she went in, unconscious. Willow, being in the 2001 frame of mind that she was in, squealed in fear and scurried over to her unconscious honey. Oz realized something was wrong and forfeit what may have been the best run there would have been to help Willow move Tara off to the side.
He looked up at Jeff on his tall chair with eyes unnatural to any human and started sprouting fur on the back of his neck. “Why would you do this if you knew it was dangerous?”
“Not my responsibility. I gave her the chance to quit.”
“But if you knew it was this dangerous, she shouldn’t have been participating in the first place. No one should have.” Oz tried to prevent his teeth from growing out and succeeded, but barely. He was on the edge.
“Look, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing…”
“Don’t give me that. This girl is in danger because you led her to it.”
“Oz…”
“She got kicked out of a machine that creates violent mind images while condensing people into small coloured light. How can you not…”
“Oz, you’re wolfing out,” Willow said, grabbing his arm tightly. He looked over at her and growled, and then saw that the arm she was holding was covered in a light fur. He watched Willow until he calmed down. Then he attended to Tara, picking her up and carrying her back toward their tribe. Jeff visibly relaxed.
“All right. The winners of this round are Faith, Buffy, Kennedy and Giles. Two people from each team. Anyone copping out?”
“I’m doing this solely for Tara’s purpose,” Buffy decided with hatred.
“Do as you will. Buffy versus Giles. Go.”
Giles came out first with a time of 58.44 seconds; Buffy came out with a time of 58.59 seconds.
“Kennedy versus Faith. Go.”
Faith tumbled out first with a time of 56.09, and Kennedy clocked in at 56.99.
“Giles and Buffy are the winners,” Jeff said resignedly.
“I forfeit my share to Tara,” Buffy said indignantly, regarding the host with disgust.
“And I forfeit mine to Willow,” Ripper said. He was Ripper now; he wasn’t Giles at night. He didn’t care for a night in a cabin because he felt he was better than that. Also, Tara wouldn’t have any fun in a cabin alone unless Willow was there with her, now, would she? "Besides, she needs the time. Having one’s nose being attached to one’s chin for hours mustn’t be terribly pleasant,” he added with a laugh. The silence echoed around him and Willow was horrified that he actually mentioned it.
“But…” protested Jeff, breaking the silence and saving Willow from being questioned for the time being.
“Shut up, Jeff. Show me where the cabin is,” Buffy replied, picking up Tara and following the reluctant Jeff, Willow following close behind. Jeff returned shortly to the others.
“You all can go back to your tribes. I’ll see you here tomorrow night, two hours after sunset, for the immunity challenge. Goodnight.”
“You’re a piece of work,” Spike spat. Then he couldn’t think of anything else to say, and he waited for Buffy’s return before he followed the rest of the Jeff Tribe back into the woods.
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