Duped and Dropped: Part 3
by Fire Girl
I own Michelle and Matt and various other small things, but Willow and Xander belong to Joss Whedon.



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Part Three

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Rrrrrrr. Not again, thought Willow. This was the third puddle she'd stepped in today. She hated hiking. She also hated the fact that they moved to a new camp every three days. She had, what felt like, a ton of equipment strapped to her back, about a million bug bites and a very muddy right foot. The more she camped, the less she liked it. Xander, on the other hand, was having a blast. He and Matt, were near the front of the line laughing and doing manly things, which left Willow with virtually nothing to do, accept to bring up the rear with Jenny Ledger and Michelle Marks. She had come on this trip expecting a good time with her two best friends. Instead, she was watching one of her best friends, have fun with someone else and her other best friend wasn't even there.

A few steps later, she found herself on the ground. She looked at her feet and saw the tree branch she had tripped over.

Rrrrrrr, she thought again.

"Are you Ok?"

Willow looked up and saw Michelle standing above her with an out-stretched hand. Willow took it and got to her feet.

"Yeah, I think so."

They began to walk.

"You don't seem to be having much fun." Said Michelle.

"I'm not. Hopefully this next campsite will be better than the last one."

"Could you believe that place? I'll be picking leaves out of my hair for weeks."

"You're lucky all you had was leaves."

Michelle laughed. "So, is trip this the only thing getting you down?"

God, am I that obvious? Willow thought.

"Well, there's that and there's the fact that I've been abandoned by my best friends."

"They're your best friends?" Michelle asked, gesturing to Xander and Matt.

"Actually, just Xander. I don't know Matt that well. My other best friend dragged me into coming here and then didn't even show up. What about you? No offense, but you really don't seem like the camping type."

"My parents made me go. They make me go every year."

"Is it always this bad?"

"Actually, this has been the best trip yet."

"What makes this better than any other year? It's the exact same trip."

"Well," Michelle sounded almost sheepish, "Matt's never been on one before. That's a good enough reason for me."

"Oh." Said Willow suddenly understanding her motives, "Why don't you talk to him? I mean, I don't know either of you really well, but I've never known either of you to be shy. Life is short, seize the moment. My friend, Buffy told me that."

"Buffy Summers? You're friends with her?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"She just seems so weird. She's always hanging around in that library and she gets into a lot of trouble."

"She's a big reader and the getting into trouble part, think of it like a curse or something. She really tries to stay away from a bad situation, when she can."

Michelle shrugged, "So, you really think I should talk to him?"

"You'll never know how he feels unless you ask him."

"You're right. I don't know what people are talking about. You're not so bad."

"Thanks-I think."

They continued to walk for another hour or so until finally they reached the camp. This one wasn't much to look at, but at least its cabins had utilities. There were two boy's cabins and two girl's cabins. Michelle invited Willow to bunk with her, which Willow did. They had a race for top bunk. Willow won. Again Matt and Xander also bunked together. This time Xander got the top bunk. They went outside to find Willow and were surprised to see Michelle with her.

The four of them walked around for awhile and tried to find something to do. There wasn't much. Finally, Michelle said, "I know, follow me you guys."

Not seeing any other options, they followed her.

"I've been on this trip so many times that I've learned everything about the area around it." She explained to them.

She took them through the forest until they came to a path, which they followed. A spring ran along side it. At the end of the path was a clearing. In this clearing was a waterfall and a bunch of large rocks, which formed a circle. In the middle was a smaller circle for building a fire.

"Wow!" said Matt.

"How did you manage to dig up this place?" asked Xander.

"Like I said, I come here every year." She replied, "I came across this place years ago. I've come back every year ever since." She ran to one of the rocks and lifted it up, "Oh, my God, I can't believe it's still here. I'm surprised no one's stolen it yet."

She pulled from under the stone a long stick with small stones in its crevices and a large piece of crystal attached to one end. With this came three green stones and two red ones, which had fallen off of the stick.

"What is all this?" asked Willow.

"This," she said holding up the stick, "is a witch's wand. These stones fell off of it, but I can't figure out how to put them back. I found these things here when I found this place. I think witch's used to use this place to cast spells. That's why there's two circles of rocks."

"Can I see it?" asked Xander.

"Sure." She handed him the wand. He sat down on a rock and picked up the stones. One by one, he found a place for each, where they stayed.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, "I've been trying to figure that out for years."

"I don't know." He answered, "I just did."

He shrugged and handed the wand back to Michelle. Suddenly, the sound of a whistle filled the air.

"That means dinner." Said Matt, "Hey everyone, meet back here at midnight tonight. We'll have a round of scary stories."

They all agreed, then headed back to camp.

That night at 11:55, Willow and Michelle snuck out of their cabin. It was harder than they'd expected. The parent chaperones were surrounding each cabin. They had to distract one by throwing a rock in the opposite direction. Upon hearing the noise, she went to where she'd heard it. The girls ran quickly into the forest. They arrived in the clearing right on time. The guys were waiting for them. They had started a fire in the small circle and they sat on rocks around it.

"You guys have any trouble getting out here?"

"Just a little. Who's going first?"

"Well, since I'm the one who called us all out here, I'll go first." Said Matt, "Now my story is true and it happened in this forest."

"You'd be surprised how many times I've heard that one." Said Xander.

"Seriously. This is a true story. A few years ago, there were reports of hunters being mauled by something in this forest."

"Those were reported as bear attacks." Said Willow.

"You're right, they were reported as bear attacks, but it was never proven. A friend of mine was up here hunting last year, with his dad and he said he saw something. One thing he assured me was that this was no bear. It was way too big. He shot at it, which made it run off."

"And this is scary, how?" asked Willow.

"You, guys don't believe me. You will, when the attacks start."

"Oh, please," said Michelle, "I come up here every year and we've never once been attacked."

"That's because you're surrounded by adults with hunting rifles 24 hours a day. If it found us out here right now, none of us would make it out of here alive."

"Ok, you're turn is up." Said Xander, "Let's move on to something else."

"What's wrong, Xander, you scared?"

"No, I'm just afraid of falling asleep in the middle of you're story and being left out here."

"Ok, but when the attacks start, just remember, you've been warned." That was the last they talked of Matt's giant creature. They each told a mildly scary story, then deiced to leave.

"Wait!" said Michelle, "I have one more story."

Xander yawned, "Make it fast, I'm tired."

They all sat back down on the rocks and she began.

"I tell this story every year, right here in this spot. I have a bigger crowd than usual to tell it to this year.

"Well, this story begins about ten years ago. The first time that I went on this trip, I was wandering around these woods and I got lost. I was missing into the night. At around midnight, I stumbled into this place and saw eight women. Just by looking at them I could see where they stood with each other. Three of them were working together; they were taking water from the stream and filling jugs. Two of them were off in different directions. They didn't seem to exactly belong. They seemed really distant. One of them was overseeing everything. She was the leader. Two women stood at her sides. They were like her friends, servants, bodyguards, and advisors all rolled into one.

"The leader saw me. She called all of the women into a group, then asked me to join them. I was afraid at first, but as I got closer, I saw they're faces, which were, strangely, comforting. The leader was very beautiful. She had long red hair, like fire and dark green eyes. The others varied. They each had kind of an exotic look to them. They would have dark hair and bright blue eyes or blonde hair with eyes that looked almost black. All of them were like this. Well, we stood in a circle and joined hands. They all began to chant something. It's been so long, now, that I don't even remember what we said, but for some reason, I started to do it too. It was like something was controlling me. When it was over, I looked like this."

She took out her wallet and showed them a picture of when she was seven.

"Before that trip, I looked like this."

She took out another picture. She looked very different in this. Her hair was light blonde in this and her eyes were hazel. Now her hair was so dark that in the night it looked black and her eyes were like emeralds.

"That's impossible." Said Matt.

"That's what I said. When we broke the circle, the leader gave me her wand. She told me that I couldn't take it away from here or there would be consequences. She also said that after fifteen years, they would return here and they wanted me to join them when they did. I looked at this wand for a long time. When I looked up, they were all gone. I was found about an hour later, by one of the group leaders."

"How many people have told this to?" asked Willow.

"I don't know. No one's believed me, but I continue to come here every year and tell my story to anyone who decides to become my friend and is willing to listen." She put the wand back under the rock. "Now, I think we should get back."

They all stood and left the site with thoughts of, "Wow." on their minds.

On the way back, Michelle and Matt walked together. They talked about miscellaneous things, but waited until Xander and Willow were far enough ahead that they wouldn't be able hear the conversation before getting serious with each other.

Xander noticed that they had slowed down and turned around.

"Hey guys, hurry up." He called to them.

"Why don't you two go ahead, we need to talk." Said Matt.

Xander shrugged, then challenged Willow to a race back to camp.

It started off as talking, as Matt had said. Eventually, they got to holding hands, then he put his arm around her and before either of them knew it they up against a tree, making out.

They had been there for a few in minutes, when they heard a sound.

They stopped and looked around.

"What was that?" Michelle asked.

"Let's get out of here." Said Matt.

"You don't actually think it's that monster, do you?"

"I don't know, but I really don't like it out here. Let's go."

They started to walk towards the camp, when they heard the sound again. They turned around for a second, then began to run. In front of them stepped one of the group leaders. They stopped dead in their tracks.

"What are you two doing out of your bunks?" he asked.

They both started with things like, "Uh" and "Well" but before either could finish a sentence, something jumped from the woods and attacked the leader. It threw him to the ground. He screamed for a few seconds, then stopped suddenly. They couldn't see too well in the darkness, but whatever this thing was, it was big.

They both ran and they didn't stop until, they reached camp. Xander and Willow were waiting for them outside their cabins. The rest of the leaders had finally gone to bed.

"What happened?" asked Willow.

They frantically explained what had happened, stopping every few seconds to take a deep breath.

"Where's Buffy when you need her?" said Willow, who was greatly annoyed.

"We need to get this thing." Said Xander, "If it comes here and happens to get into a cabin…" he trailed off.

"Get it with what?" said Willow, "We don't even know what this thing is, how are we gonna stop it."

"Matt, you said that a gun scared it away?"

"Yeah."

"Then we need to get a gun."

"How?" Asked Willow.

"I think I may know."

A few minutes later, the four of them were in front of the leaders' cabin. They went around to one of the windows and looked inside.

"They have rifles in there. If we can get one, we can maybe stop this thing before it can get anyone else."

"How do propose that we get one?" asked Michelle.

"There." He pointed to a door at the other end of the room, "They keep all their equipment in that room. C'mon."

They walked around to the back of the cabin and found a window leading into the equipment room. There they were; all ten hunting rifles lined up against the wall. Xander opened the window and stepped in quietly. He tiptoed to the rifles and picked up two. He handed them through the window, then went back in for bullets. He grabbed a few boxes, then jumped out the window.

"How do these thing work?" asked Michelle.

"Just point and shoot." Said Xander.

He showed them how to hold them and how to aim. Matt had some experience, which was good. They split up into two groups. Matt went with Michelle and Xander teamed up with Willow. Each pair went in a different direction.

"So, what do you think this thing is?" asked Willow when they were well into their path.

"I'm not sure, but Matt may not be as full of it as I thought."

"You think it's that monster?"

"Either that or a really big bear."

They walked a little further. Then, they heard it. They looked all around, but it was too dark. A growl came from the woods.

"There." Willow pointed to where the growl had come from. Xander stepped toward it, carefully. Suddenly, something came from the woods. It attacked Willow and knocked her to the ground. Xander didn't waste anytime. He shot seven bullets into the creature until finally it stopped moving.

"Willow!" He pulled the creature off of her. She moaned in pain.

"Are you alright?"

"I-I think so." She said shakily. Xander turned to see what had attacked her, but the creature was gone.

"C'mon, Willow, we gotta move." He pulled her to her feet, but she didn't go very far. Finally, he picked her up and carried her back to camp.

When they arrived, Michelle and Matt were already there. Matt's leg was bleeding.

"Did you see it?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, it attacked Willow." Xander put her down on the bench, where they were sitting. She had a large scratch on her arm and she was slightly dazed.

"That means there's more than one." Michelle realized.

"I put five bullets into it's back as it ran off. It didn't even slow down." Said Matt.

"When I shot it, I think I paralyzed it for a second. It ran off before I could see what it was."

"Where'd you shoot it?" asked Michelle.

"The back mostly. I did hit it once in the head, though. That might of done it."

"Xander you better return these." Said Willow, gesturing to the guns and bullets.

"Good idea. You two get him inside and be quiet. If anyone wakes up, we're all dead."

They took Matt inside and put him on his bed. Luckily, this cabin had separated rooms, so they didn't have to worry about waking anyone up. Xander returned a little while later.

"I can't believe we pulled that off." He said, hopping onto his bed.

The girls had wrapped Matt's leg tightly, so it wouldn't bleed all over the place. They then had to wrap Willow's arm, which was also bleeding.

Michelle and Willow ran to their cabin, which luckily was nearby and locked the door to their room. Whatever had attacked them now had a whiff of Matt and Willow's blood. It could probably trace them if it wanted to. Willow took the bottom bunk. It would be hard to climb to the top, with only one arm. They talked a little, but it didn't take long before their fatigue overtook them and they were both asleep.


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