Aug. 6th - Another Day
Title: Another Day
Author: 3am_moonlight
Crossover: BtVS / The Walking Dead (TV)
Rating: Gen / Teen
Word Count: 1,300
Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & TWD: 02x01: What Lies Ahead.
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and TWD belongs to someone with expensive lawyers.
Summary: She still has a saving people thing, especially when it's a child.Author's Note: Written for Day 06 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.
The two of them had been walking through the woods for several hours after they ran out of gas when Buffy suddenly picked up the sound of what sounded like a running child being chased by three or four biters. She quickly helped Tara up into a tree and kept an eye on her to make sure she would make it high enough and then ran in the direction of the footsteps.
She loved Tara, not in a girlfriend and smoochies kind of way, but because she was a great person and a close friend. There was no denying that the other woman was not a fighter and that meant she needed to be somewhere at least semi-safe when Buffy went after the biters. Doing this had been a lot easier when all she had to do was get out of the car so Tara could lock the doors.
It only took her a few minutes to see a child desperately trying to get away from three of the undead corpses. Putting on a little more speed she got herself between the little girl and the biters and swung the Scythe upward, cutting off half of the head of the first one and then repeating it with the second on the downswing. The last one was introduced to the pointy end and went down. She quickly checked to make sure they were properly dead and then she ran after the little girl, who had wisely kept moving.
After catching up she slowed. "Hey. You can calm down and walk now. They're dead, really dead now."
The girl slowed before stopping entirely and looking shyly at her. Up close, Buffy upped her estimate of the girl's age from about nine or ten to 12 maybe 13. "What's your name?"
"Sophia." Her voice was low and she kept looking around her. Given the situation, she wasn't certain if it was because she was looking for more biters or if she wanted to escape from her as well. She gave a friendly smile, "Hello, Sophia. I'm Buffy. My friend Tara is up in a tree over there." She pointed a little further ahead of them where her witchy friend could be seen sitting on a tree branch high enough off the ground so no one could drag her down. "Why don't we go over there so I can help her down?"
Sophia nodded shyly and followed along, still keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. It took a little work but Tara was soon back on solid ground. It was times like these when Buffy was very glad she had convinced her friend to wear pants instead of her habitual skirts and dresses. The world was all about being able to move freely and easily without anything unnecessary getting in the way. A split second was all it took to join the undead.
Tara introduced herself to the little girl and then asked, "Do you have a family around here or a group?"
Sophia nodded shyly again before she answered. "They're on the road, but I got lost because the walkers chased me."
Buffy and Tara exchanged looks, neither of them had seen a road. But then, they had been avoiding human contact for a while and that included houses and any roads meant for cars and other vehicles. People were scared and if they saw anything that looked like people they either assumed they were biters or hostile living ones. Both were to be avoided if at all possible.
"Are there many people in your group?" If it was a big one, then chances were they would not be welcome. Bringing Sophia back might help, but neither she nor Tara looked like they would be more than dead weight dragging them down. She gave a mental snort at her own wording and moved on.
"Ten, maybe?" The girl looked uncertain and Buffy gave her an encouraging smile. "It's me and mom and Daryl. Rick, Lori, and Carl. Dale and Andrea. Glenn." She thought about it, "and a few others."
They should be okay with that. Sophia clearly wanted to go back to them and didn't seem afraid, so that was a good sign. "Do you know if they have been looking for you?"
"Yes, Rick found me once, but then more walkers came and he showed me a place to hide so he could kill them. But a walker came toward me and I got scared and ran. And now I don't know where they are." Her eyes got shiny.
Tara leaned down a little, "We'll protect you until we can find your mom and the rest of your group."
There were a few more questions, but the end of it was that they probably needed to go back. They also needed to find a place to sleep for the night, somewhere safe.
Sophia had been running blindly to avoid the biters, or walkers as she called them, and hadn't really seen where she was going. All that had mattered was to get away and not run into more of them. It was understandable, but it made finding her group more difficult. Before the infection, they could've just walked around yelling the names of the rest of Sophia's group, but now it wasn't an option.
As they walked they were all keeping a close eye on their surroundings, and in addition, Buffy was stretching her Slayer senses to the limit trying to see or hear any living humans. The only problem was that she had a mystical 'radar' for the supernatural, not regular human beings. Which meant she could sense the biters around them, but not who they were actually looking for.
It meant all she had to go on were her eyes and ears, and the only unusual thing she had heard lately were church bells. Which meant there were someone trying to trick people into coming there or the church somehow still had electricity and there was a timer. Either way, it was bad news. Hostile humans or biters congregated around the loud noise. They were not going there.
Two hours into their search they took a break and Tara gave Sophia a small bottle of sealed water. The three of them shared a cold box of soup, not daring to make a fire in the middle of the forest so soon after a herd had gone by. Warm food was a luxury they couldn't afford. There was nowhere for them to hide if the herd came back and waiting it out wasn't an option. Buffy may or may not be able to kill all of them, but they would prefer to not take the chance.
It took several days for them to finally find the road as they kept having to change direction in order to avoid both a herd and spread out roamers. When they finally made it onto the road they saw the traffic snarl but what they didn't see was the RV Sophia had been talking about. There were a lot of cars in various shapes and sizes, but the vehicle in question was nowhere to be seen.
Proceeding carefully as there were corpses in some of the cars, it took another 15 minutes to find a message written on the front window of a car. It simply said 'Sophia, stay here, we will come back every day'.
Tara smiled at the little girl as she showed her the message. "We just have to wait here and they will come to us."
The sign put all three of them in a good mood and they set about looking for something edible and a car where all of them could sleep safely that night. It was getting dark so it was unlikely someone would come that day.
Author: 3am_moonlight
Crossover: BtVS / The Walking Dead (TV)
Rating: Gen / Teen
Word Count: 1,300
Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & TWD: 02x01: What Lies Ahead.
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and TWD belongs to someone with expensive lawyers.
Summary: She still has a saving people thing, especially when it's a child.Author's Note: Written for Day 06 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.
The two of them had been walking through the woods for several hours after they ran out of gas when Buffy suddenly picked up the sound of what sounded like a running child being chased by three or four biters. She quickly helped Tara up into a tree and kept an eye on her to make sure she would make it high enough and then ran in the direction of the footsteps.
She loved Tara, not in a girlfriend and smoochies kind of way, but because she was a great person and a close friend. There was no denying that the other woman was not a fighter and that meant she needed to be somewhere at least semi-safe when Buffy went after the biters. Doing this had been a lot easier when all she had to do was get out of the car so Tara could lock the doors.
It only took her a few minutes to see a child desperately trying to get away from three of the undead corpses. Putting on a little more speed she got herself between the little girl and the biters and swung the Scythe upward, cutting off half of the head of the first one and then repeating it with the second on the downswing. The last one was introduced to the pointy end and went down. She quickly checked to make sure they were properly dead and then she ran after the little girl, who had wisely kept moving.
After catching up she slowed. "Hey. You can calm down and walk now. They're dead, really dead now."
The girl slowed before stopping entirely and looking shyly at her. Up close, Buffy upped her estimate of the girl's age from about nine or ten to 12 maybe 13. "What's your name?"
"Sophia." Her voice was low and she kept looking around her. Given the situation, she wasn't certain if it was because she was looking for more biters or if she wanted to escape from her as well. She gave a friendly smile, "Hello, Sophia. I'm Buffy. My friend Tara is up in a tree over there." She pointed a little further ahead of them where her witchy friend could be seen sitting on a tree branch high enough off the ground so no one could drag her down. "Why don't we go over there so I can help her down?"
Sophia nodded shyly and followed along, still keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. It took a little work but Tara was soon back on solid ground. It was times like these when Buffy was very glad she had convinced her friend to wear pants instead of her habitual skirts and dresses. The world was all about being able to move freely and easily without anything unnecessary getting in the way. A split second was all it took to join the undead.
Tara introduced herself to the little girl and then asked, "Do you have a family around here or a group?"
Sophia nodded shyly again before she answered. "They're on the road, but I got lost because the walkers chased me."
Buffy and Tara exchanged looks, neither of them had seen a road. But then, they had been avoiding human contact for a while and that included houses and any roads meant for cars and other vehicles. People were scared and if they saw anything that looked like people they either assumed they were biters or hostile living ones. Both were to be avoided if at all possible.
"Are there many people in your group?" If it was a big one, then chances were they would not be welcome. Bringing Sophia back might help, but neither she nor Tara looked like they would be more than dead weight dragging them down. She gave a mental snort at her own wording and moved on.
"Ten, maybe?" The girl looked uncertain and Buffy gave her an encouraging smile. "It's me and mom and Daryl. Rick, Lori, and Carl. Dale and Andrea. Glenn." She thought about it, "and a few others."
They should be okay with that. Sophia clearly wanted to go back to them and didn't seem afraid, so that was a good sign. "Do you know if they have been looking for you?"
"Yes, Rick found me once, but then more walkers came and he showed me a place to hide so he could kill them. But a walker came toward me and I got scared and ran. And now I don't know where they are." Her eyes got shiny.
Tara leaned down a little, "We'll protect you until we can find your mom and the rest of your group."
There were a few more questions, but the end of it was that they probably needed to go back. They also needed to find a place to sleep for the night, somewhere safe.
Sophia had been running blindly to avoid the biters, or walkers as she called them, and hadn't really seen where she was going. All that had mattered was to get away and not run into more of them. It was understandable, but it made finding her group more difficult. Before the infection, they could've just walked around yelling the names of the rest of Sophia's group, but now it wasn't an option.
As they walked they were all keeping a close eye on their surroundings, and in addition, Buffy was stretching her Slayer senses to the limit trying to see or hear any living humans. The only problem was that she had a mystical 'radar' for the supernatural, not regular human beings. Which meant she could sense the biters around them, but not who they were actually looking for.
It meant all she had to go on were her eyes and ears, and the only unusual thing she had heard lately were church bells. Which meant there were someone trying to trick people into coming there or the church somehow still had electricity and there was a timer. Either way, it was bad news. Hostile humans or biters congregated around the loud noise. They were not going there.
Two hours into their search they took a break and Tara gave Sophia a small bottle of sealed water. The three of them shared a cold box of soup, not daring to make a fire in the middle of the forest so soon after a herd had gone by. Warm food was a luxury they couldn't afford. There was nowhere for them to hide if the herd came back and waiting it out wasn't an option. Buffy may or may not be able to kill all of them, but they would prefer to not take the chance.
It took several days for them to finally find the road as they kept having to change direction in order to avoid both a herd and spread out roamers. When they finally made it onto the road they saw the traffic snarl but what they didn't see was the RV Sophia had been talking about. There were a lot of cars in various shapes and sizes, but the vehicle in question was nowhere to be seen.
Proceeding carefully as there were corpses in some of the cars, it took another 15 minutes to find a message written on the front window of a car. It simply said 'Sophia, stay here, we will come back every day'.
Tara smiled at the little girl as she showed her the message. "We just have to wait here and they will come to us."
The sign put all three of them in a good mood and they set about looking for something edible and a car where all of them could sleep safely that night. It was getting dark so it was unlikely someone would come that day.