Duped and Dropped: Part 2
by Fire Girl
These characters , with the exception of Michelle and Matt, aren't mine, don't sue!



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Part Two

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"Alright everyone, let's get going."

Willow checked her things, then followed the rest of the group.

"C'mon, Xander." She said as she passed him.

"Where in the world is Buffy?" he asked.

"I don't know, but I'm sure she'll catch up. She probably just slept in, this morning. She'll be here."

Xander shrugged, then picked up his backpack and followed her.

"I can't believe they're making us hike to each camp." He complained.

"And in the hot sun on top of that." Willow added.

To make matters worse, within three minutes of walking, the entire group had started singing. "She better be here." Said Xander.

They walked for what seemed like forever. When they got there, they realized that it was not worth the walk. The cabins were old, dirty and didn't even have running water. Willow found the girls cabin and settled in. Or at least she tried to. She put her sleeping bag on the bed and listened to the loud squeak that it made. When she sat on it, a bunch of rodents ran out from under it. She screamed as a snake chased a rat from the room. One of the other girls said to her, "Don't worry, it's just a garden snake. It won't hurt you."

Willow didn't care. The idea of animals living under her bed brought back a lot of childhood trauma. She promised herself that if she saw any frogs, she was going home.

Xander's experience wasn't much better. He was surrounded by tree-huggers and nerds. The kid he shared a bunk with was allergic to everything. The only decent kid in the whole cabin was a tall boy named Matt Lyndoc. He recognized Xander from English class.

"Hey." Said Matt to get his attention.

Xander looked up at him.

"Hi." He answered.

Matt approached him.

"You seem to want to be here as much as I do. What dragged you out into the middle of nowhere?"

"A girl."

"You too? Who you here for?"

"Buffy Summers. Well, she was supposed to be here, anyway."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, but she didn't show this morning. How about you?"

"Michelle Marks. When I heard she'd be out here, I couldn't resist, but hey, aren't you going out with Cordelia Chase?"

"Yeah, I was doing this as a favor to Buffy, we're just friends. She has a boyfriend."

"Really? Who's she going out with?"

"Uh, someone not from our school. She's into the older men."

"Oh. Hey, why don't you bunk with me? My bottom bunk is empty."

"Sure." Finally something was going right.

He moved his stuff to the bottom bunk and then he and Matt went outside to find Willow. They found her sitting on a bench outside of her bunk.

"What's wrong, Wil? Are the other kids not playing nice?"

She looked up at him with disgust. "Why did we let ourselves get dragged out here? There are animals living under my bed."

"It's not much better in our cabin." Said Matt.

"Yeah, we're up to our ears in nerds." Added Xander.

"Sounds like fun." She stood up and they started to walk.

"Oh, it is. Me and Matt here take bets on who's gonna have the next asthma attack."

"Do you have any friends in your cabin?" asked Matt.

"No." said Willow, "Everyone is so rugged. Except for Michelle. She's nice, but she doesn't talk to me at all. She keeps to herself, mostly."

"Well maybe, she'll come out her shell by the end of the trip."

"I hope so. I don't want to be bored this whole time."

"And if you're really lucky, Buffy will show up soon." Said Xander.


* * *
"Mmmm." Buffy moaned as she turned over. It took her a moment to realize that she was not at home in her bed, where she'd hoped to be. She opened her eyes and saw darkness. She sat up quickly and looked around to find that she was in, what looked like, a cave or underground tunnel. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized that it was a tunnel. It was about thirty feet long and ten feet wide. Large piles of rocks, which reached to the fifteen foot, high ceiling, blocked off both ends. It looked as though the sides had been caved in on purpose. A huge hole was in the ceiling. Through it, she could see the moon. Below the hole was a beat-up, red ‘95 Corvette.

A second later, she realized that she wasn't wearing a shirt. There was some type of bandage all over her left shoulder. In fact there were bandages all over her body.

"Buffy?"

She looked around. "Angel?"

He stepped from a shadow, where she guessed he had been sleeping. He walked to her and knelt next to her.

"Are you Ok?" he asked. He had tended to her worst injuries when he had first woken up.

"I don't know. I think so. I just- Ow!" She tried to get up and quickly learned not to put weight on her left wrist.

"Where's my shirt?" she asked.

"It's over here." He stood and walked to the car, where the blood on her shirt was drying.

"Sorry, but I had to get to your shoulder."

"It's alright." She said. She put it on carefully.

"So, where are we?" she asked.

"Some kind of underground cave, I think."

"No, it's- it's more like a tunnel or something. Look at these pipes."

She touched one of the pipes that lined the wall and quickly took her hand back. The pipes were hot. They were also wet. They were water pipes.

"Well, how do you propose we get out of here?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. The ceiling's too high to climb out."

"If you give me a boost, I can probably jump to the top."

"Maybe, but we should wait a couple days."

"What! I don't want be down here a couple days!"

"Buffy, you've been out since last night, your left wrist is fractured in two places, and half the cuts on your face are still bleeding. I don't think you'll make it out and even if you do how will you get back to town?"

She raised a hand to her face. It was true; she was bleeding. Angel went to the car and took a Band-Aid from it. He handed it to her.

"Where did these come from?" she asked putting it on her cheek.

"I found a first aid kit in the glove compartment."

She sighed. "So, how will we survive down here for two days. There's no food and no water."

"There's plenty of water. All we need to do is break a pipe. Unfortunately, food is another story. There's nothing down here."

Buffy sat down against the wall. He sat next to her.

"Don't worry," he said, "Someone will realize that you're missing and eventually, they'll get us out of here. I know, they'll notice that you're not there for that camping trip and they'll call your house."

"The camping trip! I think they come through this canyon on their way to the last camp. They may pass by here."

"But, they won't show up for another couple weeks. Can you last that long?"

As he spoke, she got up and went to the car. She was looking for her purse, which she had thrown in the back seat.

"I don't know." She told him, "Hey, what's all this "you" stuff? You're down here too, remember. I-" It was then that she glanced into the front seats. There was blood on them. Her attention was especially drawn to the passenger side. There was much more blood where he'd been sitting,

"Oh, my God," she said, "you won't last that long will you? How long can you go?"

"About as long as you can, probably no more than ten days. If that fall hadn't taken so much out of me, I would say longer, but under the circumstances.... If we're lucky some animal will fall in here, that way we're both saved. If not...." he trailed off.

"Well, what am I, chopped liver? I mean, if worse comes to worst you can alwa-"

"No."

"And why not? I'll let you."

"No!" he crossed his arms as if to say "End of discussion."

God, he's being stubborn, she thought.

"Well, you may feel differently in a few days." She said.


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