The Fever, Part Thirteen Author: Elsa Frohman Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: Post Chosen. This is my AU AtS S5. Summary: Spike is back, and he's human -- sort of. He's
working for Wolfram & Hart as an outside contractor.
Note: Please be warned that this part of the story is more violent than what has come before. Also, a number of racial epithets are used. Please consider them in the context of the story. Thank you.
The crash came up at Ralph through the floor. He felt it before
he realized he was hearing it.
He'd been drifting somewhere slightly removed from here and
now. His body was still seated on the floor next to Matt, but his
mind had retreated to a place of gray nothingness. It overtook
him this way at times. He just couldn't hold on to reality any
longer, and slipped into this trance-like state that was anything
but comforting. He was touching the void. It was reaching out
and enveloping him. At moments like this he knew nothing but
emptiness.
As the shock wave flashed through his legs and up his body, he
felt himself pulled back toward the world, and he felt the
detour. He was coming back -- but not to the place he left.
"Landmine!"
He freezes in place, reluctant to take another step for fear of
setting off another. His buddy, Gary the card sharp, the 18-
year-old who loved pinochle and poker, is twenty feet from
where he was standing a heartbeat earlier, lying on the ground,
moaning in shock and pain. He can hear the choppers passing
overhead. There's another explosion and another.
"Keep moving!" Lt. Sinclair shouts. "Charlie isn't going to wait
around for us. Come on -- move, move, move!"
He can hear the reports of M-16s crackling all around him.
He takes a step and another, and then he's running, the grass
and scrub foliage whipping against his fatigue trousers. His gun
is in his hand, but he isn't firing. He can't see the enemy. How
can you shoot at someone you can't see?
Gunn vaulted up the stairs two at a time. The front of a pickup
truck had burst through the wall, heaving broken bricks and
debris down the first few steps. The horn was blaring. As he
reached the top, through the shattered windshield, he could see
the driver slumped over the wheel. On the passenger side a pair
of boots smashed through the spider-webbed glass, and Jake
upended himself and climbed through onto the battered hood.
He was bleeding in a dozen places; his eyes wide in terror.
"They're on us," he gibbered. "They're all over us."
Gunn caught him before he collapsed.
"What happened?" he asked. "Where's Kareem?"
"Kareem's gone. They tore him up," Jake sobbed. "And he ain't
the only one. I don't know who else got away. They're crazy,
man. I never seen anything like it."
Gunn heard scrabbling and looked back at the truck. Someone
was coming through the smashed cab of the pickup from the
bed behind. He caught a glimpse of yellow eyes.
"You led them back here!" Gunn shouted, shaking the injured
teenager. "Damn you! You shouldn't have come back here.
You should've led them away!"
"They wouldn't stop," Jake sobbed. "They just kept coming.
With Kareem gone, we didn't know what to do."
Gunn pushed the boy roughly toward the stairs. "Get down
there and get ready to keep them out," he barked.
Jake stumbled down the stairs as Gunn looked around
desperately for a weapon, any weapon. He picked up a brick
and threw it with all his strength at the vampire climbing
through the windshield. It bounced off the creature's head. The
vampire looked up at him and snarled.
Gunn turned and pounded down the stairs, all but tumbling to
get down ahead of the intruders. He'd seen more behind the one
who had climbed out first.
He dived through the door and slammed it with the weight of
his body thrown back against it. The door stopped before it
latched. There was a hand in the doorframe -- a hand with long,
claw-like fingernails. Gunn threw himself against the door
again. There was a scream of pain from the other side, and the
hand drew back, letting the door close. Gunn threw the bolt.
"Is there another way out?"
Jake was leaning back against the wall. His knees buckled and
he slid down toward the floor.
"Is there any other way out?" Gunn repeated, grabbing Jake by
the front of his shirt and yanking him back to his feet.
The boy was beyond answering. His head rolled loosely on his
neck. Gunn shook him and slammed him back against the wall.
"Wake up!" Gunn shouted. "Answer me!"
Jake shook his head and opened his eyes.
"What?" he said weakly.
"We need to get the kids out of here. Is there a way?"
There was a loud, metallic boom as something was battered
against the outside of the door. From the sound of it, Gunn
figured it must be a part of the wrecked truck they were using
for a battering ram.
There was another boom and another. The door began to bow
inwards.
Gunn pushed Jake ahead of himself and headed for the room
where the children were bedded down.
Matt heard and felt the first crash and sat up in his bedroll.
Ralph sat on the floor next to him, his eyes unfocused and his
mouth hanging open. The boy tried to rouse the older man by
shaking him. Something was wrong with his new friend.
Sonic was already on his feet. He'd picked up a baseball bat
that he kept nearby for just such a moment as this. When Jake
and Gunn burst through the door, he had to pull back quickly to
keep from braining one of them.
"Push stuff in front of the door!" Gunn barked. "They'll be
through the main door any minute."
"We gotta get down to the furnace room," Sonic said. "There's
a way down into the steam tunnels."
Gunn flashed the boy a smile. "Right. You're my main man,
Sonic. Get the kids up and moving."
Charlie had a base near here. They had to find it. You couldn't
trust any of the locals. They were all collaborators.
Treacherous little slants, every one of them.
He's afraid, but this is what he's here for. They have to hit the
other guy before he can hit them. They've got to clear out all
the stinking Cong, because if they don't, the communists will
take over everything.
He moves forward, his gun ready, scanning the foliage for any
sign of an enemy. The gunfire around him crackles like Fourth
of July fireworks. He's running now, but he's not running away.
Slapper Markam is off to his left, firing his M-16 as he runs.
Firing again and again without aiming. There's nothing to aim
at. It's just jungle -- foliage and insects and mud, and
somewhere out there... Charlie. Charlie the slant. Charlie the
gook. Charlie the filthy, communist, baby killer.
At the edge of his peripheral vision, he sees Bobby Watkins go
down. Charlie got him... But he fell forward. The bullet didn't
come from ahead. It came from behind. He stops and turns
around, looking for the enemy. There's nobody back there but
more of his own guys. He tries not to think about it. He just
turns back and starts running again.
Gunn grabbed Ralph by the arm and hauled him to his feet.
The vampire was completely out of it. There wasn't a spark of
anything in his eyes. They were open, staring and seeing
nothing.
"Ralph!" Gunn shouted.
It was no use. He couldn't waste any more time on a semi-
comatose vampire. He had to get ten children moving -- right
now.
Gunn let go, and Ralph crumpled back to the floor.
Sonic was herding the other children toward the door -- not an
easy task, since all were frightened, and several were barely old
enough to walk. Gunn scooped up Lonna. He looked back over
his shoulder to see Matt picking up his cardboard box.
"Leave it!" Gunn barked. "Leave everything!"
They break out of the jungle at the edge of a village -- one of
those miserable little warrens with huts built out of scavenged
sheet metal, bamboo and dry grass. There's nobody in sight.
They're all huddling inside their miserable shacks -- any one of
which could be sheltering a sniper.
"Get 'em all out in the open," Lt. Sinclair orders.
There aren't any doors to pound on, so they beat on the
corrugated steel walls with the butts of their guns. The people
come stumbling out, eyes wide with fear. They're old men and
women, young women and children. There isn't a man older
than ten or younger than sixty among them.
Somebody starts setting the grass roofs on fire. That brings
them out double quick. Orange flames lick up from the huts.
Black smoke rolls off, rising up into the sky in a dark pillar.
Gunn and Sonic had moved the youngest children to the
furnace room and were back for the stragglers, when they
heard the main door give way. There were three children left --
Matt, still holding on to his cardboard box, and two seven- or
eight-year-old girls huddling in a corner, too frightened to
move. Gunn grabbed Matt by the arm.
"I told you to leave it, boy!"
He dragged the resisting child toward the door -- as the
vanguard of the vampire mob stepped in to block the way.
Gunn let go of Matt and launched himself at the creature's
midsection, hitting it with his full weight at full speed. The
vamp crumpled backward, but recovered as it hit the floor. Its
clawed hands found Gunn's neck and dug in. Gunn got his own
hands on his foe's head and slammed it down on the cement
floor.
They grappled, neither with an advantage, rolling over several
times. Then Gunn found purchase when his feet lodged against
the wall. He kicked away and broke out of the vampire's grip.
His hand found something, and he swung it with all of his
strength. The broom handle broke over the vampire's back.
Gunn couldn't believe his good luck. He plunged the jagged
broken end into the vampire's chest, and the creature exploded
into dust.
Back in the room, Sonic had troubles of his own. Two
vampires had been behind the one Gunn was taking on. Sonic
swung his baseball bat, but the closest vampire caught the end
easily, using it to haul the boy closer. Sonic let go of his
weapon and stumbled back, only to be caught in the grip of the
second creature. It pulled Sonic's head back, and yellow eyes
and fangs descended toward the boy's throat.
A young woman, seven- or eight-months pregnant, bolted out
of her burning shack with a cast-iron skillet in her hand. She
swung it desperately at the nearest soldier. His back had been
to her, but he turned as the pan bounced off his helmet. He
raised his rifle...
The scene froze.
A puff of smoke surrounded the end of the gun. A bullet hung
motionless in the air a few inches in front of the rifle's barrel.
The woman was immobile as a statue, her eyes wide with
terror. The soldier's face was twisted into a grimace of anger
and fear.
Ralph stepped back and bumped into someone standing
directly behind him.
He turned and found himself face-to-face with a vampire.
Gunn plunged his broom-handle/stake into the back of the
vampire that was about to bite Sonic. The boy fell to the floor
as his attacker disappeared in a cloud.
Gunn was swinging his weapon at the second vampire before
Sonic could scramble to his feet. The creature dodged and
snarled.
Another came through the door. Sonic retreated to take up a
position in front of the two girls.
Gunn's stake found its target; another vampire disintegrated.
But there were two more circling him for an opening now.
The vampire looked at Ralph with a contemptuous smirk.
There was something familiar about the creature, but it took
Ralph a moment to realize what it was.
He was looking at something he'd never seen -- his own demon
face. He shook his head.
"You can't be here."
The vampire shrugged. "Neither can you."
"I can't see this. Make it stop," Ralph whimpered.
"I think it has stopped," Vampire/Ralph said with a snide smile.
"But honestly, I'm not controlling this. This is entirely your
memory. I wasn't here, so I don't remember it at all.
"It's kinda neat, though."
Ralph squeezed his eyes shut and tried to make the jungle, the
village and the vampire disappear. When he opened his eyes,
the yellow-eyed version of himself was still watching him,
apparently amused by his discomfort.
"I've got to get away from here."
"Why? Nothing here can hurt you. It's nothing but shadows."
"I don't want to remember it. I can't remember this."
The vampire shrugged.
"This doesn't bother you at all," Ralph said. "You're not
human."
"Exactly. Not the slightest bit human. Though, I've got to say,
this is a complete waste. All this blood, and not a drop to
drink."
Ralph turned away in disgust.
"Why can't you make me stop hurting? Isn't that what you were
supposed to do? Weren't you supposed to make it so I could
look at this and not feel anything?"
"Hey, I tried. But you're a slippery bastard. I've never been able
to get hold of you. I reach out, and you retreat. Almost twenty
years I've been trying to get a fang into you."
"I have to get away from here," Ralph repeated.
The vampire rolled his eyes. "Or, perhaps, you could accept it.
It would stop haunting you then, you know."
"I can't accept this."
"Why?"
Ralph clenched his jaw. The words didn't want to come out.
"Come on. Say it," the vampire said impatiently.
"There weren't any Cong here. No snipers. Just women and
children and old people. There was no weapons cache. Just
people trying to stay alive."
The vampire nodded. "Good... good. Now, the rest..."
Ralph shook his head. "I can't..."
"It's going to end for you pretty quick," the vampire said.
"Trouble is, that means it ends for me, too. And I'm not ready
to end my existence. I've got to tell you, I think I got gypped in
a big way when I got you for a host."
"End?"
"Things are happening, boy. Your hours are numbered. In fact,
it's more a matter of seconds."
Ralph felt his fingernails digging into his palms. He had to do
something. He turned and looked at the tableau again. A soldier
firing his M-16 at a pregnant woman. He went over and tried to
take the bullet out of the air. It wouldn't budge. He closed his
hand around it and pulled with all his strength.
The vampire was in front of him again. "You can't do that," it
said.
"I have to. I can't let this happen again."
"There's nothing you can do to stop it. It happened. It's over."
"I can't accept that."
The vampire snorted. "And that's your problem. Look, this isn't
such a big deal. These people -- the ones your buddies killed --
they aren't like you. They're here to be killed."
Ralph recoiled. "I can't believe you said that. They're people."
The vampire shrugged. "Exactly. People. You and me, we're
not people."
"I am!"
The vampire laughed. "You used to be. But you'd stopped that
long before I got to you."
"How can you say they were here to be killed?"
"It's the way of the world, brother. War. You want it to make
sense, but it never will. It never did."
"We were supposed to be the good guys. We were protecting
freedom. The communists had to be stopped."
"Communists, phooey," the vampire sneered. "Communists, or
fascists, or the English, or the French, or maybe the Russians.
It always comes down to 'them' and 'us.' If you expect it to
make sense, you're always going to be disappointed.
"Accept it. They needed killing. Get your head around that, and
everything else is easy."
Ralph shook his head. "No. Never."
"You can't have it both ways, bud. Either they're the bad guys
and you're one of the good guys, or the other way around. One
way or the other. Either way, they're all dead now. Nothing can
change that."
"I should have done something."
The vampire cocked its head as it looked at him. "Regrets?
What good does that do?"
"I just let it happen. I stood here and let them mow everybody
down."
"So, it would have been better if you'd started shooting your
buddies? You'd have been court martialed. You would have
spent the rest of your life in a military prison, if they didn't kill
you on the spot."
Ralph shook his head. "And I wouldn't have you in my head."
"Hey! I'm not such a bad sort. I've been putting up with you all
these years. As my kind goes, I'm a saint."
"I never told anybody. I should have told everybody. Nobody
knows this happened."
"And what difference would that have made? They heard about
My Lai. That didn't stop it from happening again, did it?"
"I'm a coward."
"We both knew that."
"You say it's going to end?"
"Momentarily...
"Look, ass-wipe, you've got two ways out. You could let me
take over. Just stop fighting me. This, all this, won't mean
anything to you anymore. You won't be paralyzed. You'll be
dead. I'll get the body moving, and we'll get away."
"And the other way?"
"Oh, come on. You haven't got the guts for the other way."
"And that is?"
The vampire shook his head. "You can't change any of this. It's
over and done with. But here's the escape clause: Can you stop
it from happening again?"
Sonic swung his bat at the knee of one of the two vampires
closing in on Gunn. It collapsed with a howl of pain. But
another grabbed him from behind. He felt a sharp pain as the
fangs sank into his neck.
"What do you mean? The war's been over for almost thirty
years."
"Communists, Americans, soldiers, vampires. This war, that
war. It's all the same. The strong prey on the weak."
Ralph shook his head, not understanding.
"They're under attack, dumb-ass," the vampire sneered. "Not
that it makes any difference to you. You're just going to lie
there on the floor and let it happen."
Ralph's eyes snapped into focus. He wasn't sure where he was,
or what was happening. The air was full of snarling and
screaming. The bigger boy, Sonic, was in the clutches of a
vampire. Gunn was struggling with another.
There was no time to figure out what was going on. Ralph
uncoiled from his fetal position and launched himself at the
vampire that was draining Sonic.