Okay, so I had this dilemma, actually a couple. One was that I reaaaaaaally like Gunn but my story is kinda early for Gunnness. Two was that I had all these less fortunate people for us to save but I didn't know where to get them. Three was that, um. I really thought there was a third thing but I guess not. Anyhoo. So I thought YAY! I can bring in Gunn and his crew and their families and Gunn's sister pre-vamp-n-dust and all will be loverly.

So yah. That's what I did. Apparently. Since that was like, last chapter. Okay yah.

L.A. is done for. Yes I am bitter towards the city because, I dislike it because I was born there and everytime I go there for any reason I get LOST. So I'm gonna blow it up. =^.^=

So yes, the doom that impends is now going to just be plain old doom. Doom finally took off all its clothes and we can see it now, naked. Yah. I write way more in Xan's p.o.v. cause I think in Xan-speak naturally, Spike is waaaaay harder for me. *snicker* I wish..

But yeah. Spikey just might finish his began epiphany on goodness in this chapter. OoooooOOOOoooo. how exciting. Oh yeah and Stuff happens! Scary stuff! (not really that scary if yer a hardened youth like me, but hey, I can dream can't I. I read almost any fanfic and the only thing that's wigged me yet was Spikey slicing of a certain *cough* bodypart of Angelus's. That was ew. Cause y'know, he NEEDS that bodypart..

I'm done babbling!

 

 

"Maybe you could blow something up. They're really strict about that."-Willow

When we were staring at the ship I started to worry even more about our proximity to the city. Were we too close? We really weren't that far out from it, wedged behind a hillside. Well our vehicles were between the two halves of the cut out hill. We, stupid morons that we are, were standing at the top of the hill just begging for and attack.

A little scared, I started pushing back on Spike and looking at all the people and demons who were standing on the hill, oblivious to each other. "What is it, pet?" Spike asked me, his eyes still on the ship. I turned in his grip to face him.

"We really should be somewhere with a little more cover, don't you think?" I watched him turn his blue eyes first to me then to the people all spread over the hilltop. His brow lowered in thought. <Purty Spikey...> I mentally smacked myself. <Scared first, attracted later, think, Xan.>

"You're right." He transferred his grip only to my arm and started pulling me down the hill. I rolled my eyes and squirmed free of his grip. "Spike! There're other people here!" I said with a little girly stomp. Wow. I'm a pansy. It was Spike's turn to roll his eyes. He marched up the hill again to Angel.

"Oi, Hero-Man, Xan-pet thinks we should all be takin' cover." Angel tore his eyes away from the ship and looked at me. I tried to express my urgency with my eyes. I suck at that sort of thing though so I shrugged and climbed over to Buffy.

"Buff, we need to get these people down the hill," I told her, she looked at me, waiting for an explanation. I swear, the population of America gets dumber by the minute. "If L.A. explodes, think of all the shit that's going to be flying around?" She nodded then in comprehension and turned to Gunn. I started walking back toward Spike and Angel, yelling for everyone to get back down to the cars. That was when L.A. and its surrounding cities blew up.

I wish I could have watched it happen, the miles of city just going ka-boom, but I was too busy sliding down the hill knowing that in about two seconds the Shockwave and its friend, Debris, would be hitting us. Oh yes and the inane thought was stuck in my head, <How many pretty cars just died?>. When I hit the bottom of the steep hill I lay on my back for a second, looking at the sky. Then I was up again, turning to see how long I had to get to safety, just in time for the WHUMP of the shockwave to slam me two feet back into the side of a motorhome.

I saw nothing for a moment, my vision blacking out, but when it returned I saw a collarbone? Glancing up I saw Spike pinning me to the motorhome like a big man-shaped shield. I know I whispered something to him but I'm not sure what as I was a bit out of it and the roaring of the explosion was pretty much making discussion pointless. Glancing over his shoulder I saw snapshots of people flung around, or huddled in different positions against the hillside. I hoped they were okay which was kinda pointless, considering.

Concrete dust whirled through the air making me wonder if I would be able to breathe for much longer. After that, I had a whole two-seconds to register the first of the big debris hitting. I ducked my face back down in the protective hollow made by Spike's billowing duster and clung to his shirt, praying to pretty much anything that my Vampire Fortress wouldn't be hit.

Upon completion of that thought Spike was slammed into me and I couldn't breathe due to my air being squished into the atmosphere. I guess I prayed in the wrong direction. I stared at the piece of rebar that protruded from just to the left of his heart and stuck into my own chest. <Damn.>

I stood still, clinging to Spike's black shirt and closed my eyes. Gasping for air through the dust, I tried hard not to cough. I had no idea how deep the rebar was in me. Luckily I was numb from about the nose down due to the insanity of it all so I waited. I waited for the storm of debris and dust to end so I could see if I was going to die or not. At least Spike was alive. Convenient that vamps turned to dust when they died. It reassured me a little bit.

I risked another look around. It wasn't nearly as dusty inside of Spike's duster so I was able to see the blood running down both our shirts. I glared in disgust at the rebar. Why the hell can't construction workers use glue? I've seen far too many people impaled by rebar in my life. As I glowered at Spike's wound I noticed the roaring noise start to lessen. After a few more minutes of tense waiting I could make out the sound of my own harsh breathing. I waited until I heard the first sound of life before peeking over Spike's shoulder again.

The sound I'd heard was Angel, plastered in gray dust, beginning to shift some rubble. I attempted to call out to him and was rewarded with a strange croaking noise. He heard it though and turned to look at me. A second later he was behind Spike and trying to see what my problem was. When he saw the rebar he winced. "Hold still, I don't think its too deep." He told me and before I could do or say anything he'd pulled unconscious Spike off me and the rebar out of my chest.

A second later I watched him settled Spike face down on the ground. He braced a foot on Spike's back and yanked the rebar out using the chunk of concrete it was attached to as a handgrip. I winced, telling myself that Spike was undead, he'd be okay. Inspecting my own wound, I saw that it wasn't very deep, just really bloody. I still didn't feel any pain thanks to the excessively high amount of adrenalin that was no doubt pumping through my system so I turned around to look for people to help.

It was almost impossible to see farther than five feet in any direction thanks to the concrete dust cloud and breathing was extremely difficult. As I stumbled toward where I remembered seeing people I was forced to breathe through the bottom edge of my tank-top. The first person I came across was the person I was hoping to find uninjured and helping. Unfortunately Buffy was sprawled unconscious at the base of the hill surrounded by rubble.

Kneeling beside her I checked her vitals, which were strong and then checked for what had knocked her out. A big blood-soaked patch matted the blond hair on the other side of her head. I winced. She was going to be way grumpy later. I made sure she was comfortable and moved on, trusting her Slayer healing to take care of her.

I spent the next indeterminate amount of time digging up bodies in the dirt. Overall, It appeared that Spike and Buffy got hit the worst of all the refugees. They had all ended up pretty close to the hillside when the shockwave hit so they were less affected by the larger debris. I'd been thrown back merely due to bad luck and Spike had gotten impaled only because he was protecting me. <Wait.>

I turned from where Gunn was counting dust-covered heads and looked at Spike, now conscious, being supported by Lorne. The soulless demon did something selfless. For me. < This sense makes does not.> I garbled at myself. Okay, so my brain wasn't exactly functioning properly. I stumbled over to the two, staring at Spike. Why would he save me? He always talked about killing me. He could've let me die and no one would have blamed him for it.

I guess I was looking at him funny because he quirked his scarred eyebrow at me. I shook off my confusion and looked to Lorne as I moved to support the Vampire's other side. "Where're we moving him?" Lorne smiled his thanks for my help.

"Out of the way, Angelcakes wants to check the RV's to see if they'll still run after that fun little explosion." I nodded and helped him settle Spike against a rock for him to rest. Lorne moved off to help Angel and I turned to Spike.

"Stay here, Spike." I ordered. "If I find out that you started wandering around bleeding on everyone I'm going to fill your wounds with lemon flavored pixie stix." He nodded dumbly, looking out of it. I stared at him for a second, trying to figure out his non-vampirey behavior. He started to grin and he pointed and bloody, dust-caked chest.

"You've got a hole in you, Xan." He slurred. I snorted.

"Yes, Spikey, I'm aware of that. You have one too." He just kind of grinned so I got up and went to check in with Gunn. When I got to where he was holding court I found him trying to calm down a pushing fight between a demon and one of his crewmates. I took a deep breath, got myself a big hefty shield of pure anger and stepped forward, shoving the combatants back into their friends.

"What the fuck is wrong with you people?!" I demanded. Suddenly everyone was staring at me. "L.A. is DUST!! And all you can think of to do is pick on each other?!" I glared at them all so no one would feel left out. "I know you're all dealing with shock but HELLO we have bigger things to worry about, like getting the hell out of here before they come after us!"

"We have wounded here! You, you, you, and you! Get in those RVs and find the first aid kits." Surprisingly enough the punk asses jumped to. I guess rage is a persuasive emotion. I turned to the demons on my left. "You guys go help Angel see how bad off our rides are." I ordered. They moved a little slower but went all the same. I blamed the species barrier.

Turning to Gunn I continued in a quieter tone. "You find everyone?" I asked him. He moved closer to speak with me, something I rarely see in his eyes. I think it might have been respect. Either that or he had gas.

"We've found everyone plus a few others lucky enough to be behind cover when it hit." He reported. "Nothing too serious. We should have everyone patched up in an hour or two. Hey, man, you do know that there's a hole in your chest, right?" I nodded and dismissed it from my mind.

"Get everyone injured taped up. I mean EVERYONE. Humans and demons. We're all in this shit together and the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that." I told him. "Make that clear to your crew. Make sure they know that the only reason they're alive at all is because a vampire chose to help them if that gets your point across. Demons are strong and we may need them if we're going to fight these evil alien dudes." Gunn nodded understanding and turned to relay orders.

I turned again and went to where I'd left Buffy. She was sitting up when I found her. She was blinking owlishly at the dust covering everything. I knelt beside her and she blinked at me. "Hey Buff, how's your head?" She wrinkled her nose and put her hand to her head in confusion.

"My head? Oh! Guess I got hit in the head then." She said, wincing as she inspected her wound. "Ugh. My clothes are soooo ruined." She said in disgust, wiping futilely at the dust layering her skirt. I smiled and helped her to her feet.

"We're patching everyone up over there." I reported, pointing to where Gunn was directed said activity. "And Angel's trying to get us mobile again." I said throwing a thumb over my shoulder at the RVs.

"Xander, did you not notice the hole in your chest?" She said suddenly, staring at my wound. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes I know, I'm fine. Go over to Gunn so he can check your scalp." I said annoyed. She followed my direction slowly, still looking a little dazed. I made my way to the front RV, looking for Angel. I found Lorne instead. He was leaning on the driver's side door of the RV looking like he'd been run over. "You okay man?" He nodded slowly.

"Just got a bit of a nasty bump that started to catch up with me. How're you holding out, cupcake? You did see that nasty hole in your chest, didn't you?" I resisted the urge to grind dust into my eye sockets.

"Yes, I'm perfectly aware of the gaping hold in my chest." I said a little forcefully. "You go sit down for a bit, get your second wind or something. I'm going to go kick Angel." I sniped. He pat me on the shoulder and stumbled on his way. I made my way down the line of RVs until I found Angel talking to the red fuzzy demon guy. "So what's the verdict, we mobile or what?"

He turned to look at me, irritation on his face. "I don't have time for this now Xander." He bitched. I sighed. No respect.

"The injured will be moveable in about an hour or so, we've collected a few extras from other cars though. Do we have the ability to take said injured to Sunnydale or will we be hoofing it?" I asked him, using my newfound no- nonsense tone of voice. Angel stared at me, being all judgey with his eyes before answering.

"We have nine of them running fine. Rizz and Glork are checking the other vehicles in the area to see what we can use. They'll be back in a minute." He reported. I nodded, redividing the survivors between the nine RVs left. Two more demons trotted up and made hissing and clicking noises at Angel who apparently understood. "Rizz found a big rig. The driver's dead but the rig works." I sighed in relief.

"That should work then. We'll have to empty out the cargo though. I'll go gather some of Gunn's men, to help." I started away but Angel stopped me with a hand on my arm.

"Is that wise. They aren't exactly demon-friendly." He asked worriedly. I smiled the smile that always makes Spike shiver. He stepped back, startled.

"It'll be okay. I had a talk with them a few minutes ago. Buffy'll probably be up and running by now too. She help keep them in line." He nodded, still looking worried and broody. He then looked at me again with concern.

"Xander, your-"

"Chest? Yeah I know, I was there when it happened. Get your guys ready, I'll send the muscle over in a sec." I slipped between two RVs and found Gunn. "Okay dude, get as many guys as you can trust to work around demons as you can. We lost two RVs but there's a big rig that we can use that needs emptying." He nodded and started calling out names.

I turned to find Buffy kneeling by a first aid kit. "Okay Buff, I'm ready to fix that hole now." Surprisingly enough, when I stepped toward her my leg didn't carry my weight and I fell until my friend caught me in strong arms and lowered me to the ground.

"Have I told you lately what an idiot you are, Xander?" She scolded worriedly and I nodded once before passing out.

Manly Girly-Giggles Home