A Dangerous World
By PassionFish
Chapter Two: Initiation
A/N Thanks
to Marsters' Girl for beta-ing this fiction!
Buffy
landed with a bounce, the fall leaving her momentarily breathless. She quickly
glanced around her, trying to work out where the hell she was.
Her
hands grasped around blindly in the darkness, as she felt herself start to
move. It felt almost like a seat-belt strap pulled taught under her. The room
was dark, but there was just enough light for her to discern that she was on a
conveyor belt of some kind.
Gingerly,
she reached out with her hands, her fingers coming in to contact with what had
to be a bumper. She checked the other side and decided that her assumption had
been correct.
Suddenly,
the belt took a sharp left, causing her to slam into one end. She let out a
muted shriek.
*Okay,
Buffy, you can do this.*
In the
background she could see silver glints of light, and she closed her eyes as one
felt like it was rushing towards her.
She
tried to continue giving herself a pep talk. She managed to calm herself enough
to settle cross-legged, in order to balance herself on this ride. A noise
sounded in front of her, and she looked up only to let out a terrified scream
as, what appeared to be, two trains zoom by her on opposite sides.
Positive
that she was about to hit them, Buffy hugged her knees to her chest, closed her
eyes, and dug her fingers into her legs, bracing herself for the impact.
Twenty
seconds past before she slowly opened her eyes, unharmed. Her head spins,
surveying the room to see if the trains were still there -but they weren't-
making her wonder if she imagined it.
*Come
on, Buffy, just 'cause you're insane, no need to go crazy!* She rolled her eyes
at the ridiculous sentence.
She felt
the conveyor belt slow to nearly a stop and scrambled to her knees.
"That’s it!"
She
tried to stand up, but screamed in a gasp as she dropped onto a third conveyor
belt. In an attempt to grab onto the edge to stop herself moving, she finally
noticed that she seemed to be going downwards.
She fell
again, this time off the conveyor belt landing on a beanbag in what appeared to
be a children’s shop. It was dark, but she could see the outlines of, what
appeared to be, tables of toy boxes and large, human-sized, mannequins.
Buffy
stood, moving slowly, wary of an attack. Her hands instinctively formed fists
as she ventured further into the room. Her heart rate accelerated, as did her
breathing.
*Exit.
Exit. Exit...there!*
There
was a light at the other end of the 'shop'. She saw a door and rushed for it.
Halfway
there she was knocked down by an unseen fist.
Buffy
tumbled to the floor, skidding back on her backside to get as far away from her
attacker as possible.
Her jaw
sill zinging from the hit she pushes herself to her feet, just in time to block
another hard punch. She kicked out with her stronger right foot, smacking him
across the face with a well-placed round-house kick, sending her attacker to
the floor.
He
groans as he recovers, shaking his head.
In a
rush of fear Buffy grabbed the nearby display unit; sending it crashing down on
his head.
Shards
of glass and pieces of broken toys flew up into the air, some hitting her face,
but she ignored them. Her attacker was down and safety was only a few more
meters away.
She
continued to move to the door, wary of another attack, as her heart-beat sped
up to what had to be unhealthy heights.
As
second figure stepped in front of her, Buffy had to squash her instinct to
scream.
Prepared,
she smashed her fist into his face. His head moved with the blow, but he didn't
stagger, and Buffy winced in her head as she realized this one wasn't going
down as easy as the first.
She
backed up, just narrowly avoiding a sharp kick to her solar plexus; feeling the
air rush around her, giving her a heady feeling. She grabbed a nearby stand,
sending sheets of glass to his feet. A shard bounced up, slicing though his
protective mask and into his cheek.
Even in
the dark she could see the blood well up and heard him mutter, "You bitch,
you'll pay for that."
She saw
the knife being drawn and panicked; refusing every karate-instilled
self-defence mechanism she turned and ran. He ran after her, knocking her legs
out from under her. Before he could pin her arms she slammed her fist in to his
face, and as luck would have it on the same side that had been cut. He grunted
in pain and made a grab for her wrists.
She
squirmed underneath him, kneeing him in the balls. Hard.
He
groaned loudly in pain, giving her enough chance to escape his hands and kick
him off her.
She felt
the hand with the knife slice through her upper left arm, and tears welled up
in her eyes at the sudden pain as she cried out, stumbling a little.
She
crawled away from the obviously insane and furious attacker.
In a
flash of black and white a third figure entered the room. The adrenaline
continued to pump through her wounded body, as she prepared her self for
another attack.
The
third wasn't after her. Within seconds the second figure had been knocked out
cold. The knife fell uselessly from his hands, landing audibly on the floor.
Buffy
scrambled to her feet. She cocked her fists, trying not to wince at the cut in
her arm. He held up his hands in mock-surrender, "Don't worry, love, I'm
not going to hurt you."
"Who
are you?" she demanded, her fists tightening.
"Name's
Spike, maybe we could continue this chit chat outside of enemy lines?" He
indicated the still prone soldiers. "They won't be out for long."
As if on
cue the shutter-door Buffy had earlier noted as her only means of escape started
to come down. The third figure, Spike, swore at this and grabbed her hand,
rushing for the door.
Buffy
yelped in surprise, trying to grab her hand from out of his grip.
"Come
on, pet. Wanna be sushi?" Buffy looked up to where he'd indicated and
frowned. Slowly realization hit, and she too ran for the door. The walls were
coming down on them.
There
was barely a meter of space left between the thick metal shutter and the floor,
as Spike shoved Buffy through it. She crawled quickly to where he was, grabbing
his hand and pulling him through just as the doors sealed the gap.
Buffy
quickly let go of his hand and scrambled to her feet. "Okay, what is going
on here?" She shouted at him, her eyes flashing angrily at the
all-in-black clad man.
Spike
opened his mouth then rolled his eyes, as several similarly dressed men walked
into the room.
"You're
about to find out." A man behind her answered and she spun to search out
the voice.
The
unknown man's words were the last thing she heard before she slumped to the
floor, unconscious.
To Be Continued...