Act1

 

Tara slowly opened her eyes. Rays of sunshine greeted her and the witch blinked in annoyance. She instinctively turned over in her bed to put her back to the window and avoid the light coming through the half-drawn curtains. She closed her eyes once again and tried to return to sleep. She did not, however, immediately fall asleep the way she was accustomed to.

 

A moment later, she opened her eyes once more when she heard movement next to her. She rolled her eyes upon recognizing the Slayer’s trademark wake up noises.

She looked down, getting a good view of Faith squirming in her blankets on the floor.

 

“Already awake Blondie?” a really wide-awake Faith said. “That’s a first”

 

“How could I sleep with all that racket you make?” Tara grumbled.

 

“I’m not making a sound,” Faith said.

 

“You’re fussing,” Tara countered.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Faith threw the blankets aside and leapt to her feet, making the floor creak. Tara rolled her eyes meaningfully and Faith smirked.

 

“Yeah, like you’re SO quiet yourself” Faith said sarcastically, referring to Tara’s frequent nightmares, which made the blonde gaze at the floor self-consciously.

 

The Slayer went to the dresser, grabbed her cigarettes and lit one up.

 

“That is the worst!” Tara grumbled, pointing to the cigarette between Faith’s fingers.

 

Faith didn’t heed the comment and went over to the window. She drew the curtains wide – making Tara blink again and opening the window, sat on the windowsill.

 

“It’s not too late. Good,” she said, more to herself than to Tara. “If we hurry, we can be in Montana this afternoon.”

 

“Montana?”

 

“Yeah,” Faith said, turning towards Tara. “You know, one of the fifty states of these here United States of America.”

 

Tara looked at the ceiling, scowled and crossed her arms over her chest.

 

“Why Montana?” she demanded sharply.

 

“Why not?” Faith replied, obviously having fun.

 

Faced with Tara’s uncompromising stare, she eventually added.

 

“Nature. Wide-open spaces. That’ll be a change”

 

The room fell silent, neither girl making a move until Faith finally crushed out her cigarette.

The Slayer tossed her butt out the window under Tara’s disapproving glare, then stood and started some stretching exercises.

As Tara watched her with a quizzical expression, Faith felt she should explain:

 

“Hard floor. Trying to ease my back a little.”

 

Tara looked down with a rather embarrassed look. She was about to say something when Faith interrupted her.

 

“Drop it, Blondie. It’s okay. I’m five by five.”

 

Faith finished her exercises and gathered up her clothes, scattered untidily on the dresser.

 

“I’m gonna grab a shower. Give you some more sack time.”

 

She headed for the door, adding prior to exiting the room:

 

“But when I come back, be ready to shower so we can leave right away.”

 

 

***

 

 

Faith was tapping the steering wheel in rhythm to some folk music playing in the car. The sun shone brightly above them as the car was speeding along at a good clip on the deserted two-lane road. With her elbow thrust out the opened window, the Slayer appeared to be in a very good mood.

Which wasn’t Tara’s state. Sitting in the passenger seat beside Faith, the witch was curled up, her face pallid as usual. A road map was on her knees. The blonde was alternately casting glances at it, at the road and at the brunette beside her.

 

“F-Faith” she uttered suddenly in a trembling voice. “C-can you close the w-window?”

 

Faith took an inquiring look at her, rolling her eyes when she noticed that the witch was shivering.

 

“Blondie, there’s plenty of sun outside” she said.

 

“I’m c-cold” Tara simply replied. “It’s c-cold over here”

 

Faith rolled her eyes again but nevertheless did what was requested. She couldn’t help grumbling some unintelligible words.

 

“Montana here” she growled. “Colder than California”

 

Just as the window was rolled up, Faith slowed the car as she spied a crossroad in the distance.

 

“Blondie,” she said. “Your call. Which way?”

 

Tara looked back at the map on her knees and her trembling finger traced a road on the paper for several seconds before she looked up at Faith.

 

“Right,” she pointed.

 

“Right? You sure Blondie?” Faith asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

Faith slowed down a little more while Tara looked at the map again, a hint of panic on her face.

 

“Yes” she said in a steady voice a moment later.

 

Once the car turned to the right as she had said, the witch added, “I can read a map Faith.”

 

“Yeah, I guess” the Slayer replied vaguely. “But you didn’t look so sure. Just wanted to check.”

 

Tara shrugged and didn’t reply. She leant back in her seat and crossed her arms tightly about her chest. Faith cast her a glance and turned up the heater.

 

“Stop sulking Blondie” she said. “Look, I’m switching the heater on.”

 

Faith opened the heater vent and tested the warmth with her fingers.

 

“Stop sulking and look at the landscape,” she said happily, then did as she suggested. “Neat around here, dont’cha think?”

 

Tara turned and looked at her with obvious surprise.

 

“I didn’t think you’d be the kind of girl to like the country,” she eventually said after a moment’s hesitation.

 

“Never had the chance,” the Slayer quickly explained. “Grew up in Boston. Then I ran to Sunnydale. Then LA, London and Cleveland.“

 

“London?” Tara asked.

 

“Yeah. Went there for a few months. To help with the new Council.”

 

Having said that, Faith grabbed part of a sandwich from the dash and took a healthy bite.

 

“You moved around a lot,” Tara commented.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Silence reigned for a moment before Faith continued.

 

“And you? Ever been to Montana?”

 

Tara shook her head.

 

“No.”

 

She didn’t say anything else and Faith didn’t persevere. Finally, as the Slayer was finishing her sandwich, the witch resumed in a low voice:

 

“I grew up in Minnesota. My father had,” she faltered for half a second, “has got a farm there,” she corrected.

 

“We weren’t that far away,” Faith said. “We could have…”

 

“No” Tara interrupted, more abruptly than she had intended. “I-I like discovering Montana better”

 

“Sunnydale?” Faith commented a little later. “Not the closest place to Minnesota, right?”

 

“No,” was the only reply she got.

 

She waited for a moment but nothing further came.

 

“Nowhere else?” she asked after a pregnant pause.

 

Tara shook her head.

 

“No. Just Minnesota and Sunnydale”

 

She looked like she was thinking about it then added:

 

“Well, there’s Cleveland now. And all the states we crossed.”

 

Faith couldn’t help grinning.

 

“At least, you’re seeing some of the country, thanks to me!” she cheerfully exclaimed.

 

Silence fell again. Faith let herself relax, watching the sun warmed road in front of her and the deserted countryside bordering it.

 

She was entering a shallow curve when the sunlight warming the windscreen vanished suddenly as a large shadow covered the car. Faith frowned. She hadn’t seen a cloud for miles.

She looked up and saw a cloudless sky just like she thought.

 

“What the hell is that?”

 

She craned her neck to see above the car and glanced at Tara who was doing the same.

 

“Faith! Watch out!”

 

Tara’s shout forced Faith’s attention back to the road and the Slayer saw a black figure swooping down in front of the car. She mashed the brake pedal, turning the steering wheel sharply to avoid the stream of fire that had suddenly come out of nowhere in front of them.

The car skidded before coming to a stop across the road. Both girls were abruptly thrown against the dash then seized by their safety belts.

Faith didn’t give it a second thought; she released the belt and had leapt out of the car in an instant.

 

The road was deserted; nothing was in sight. Faith spun around several times, hoping that her Slayer’s senses could feel the presence of the thing that had just forced them off the road. But she found nothing.

After several minutes of fruitless searching, she returned to the car. Tara hadn’t moved.

 

“You okay Blondie?” she asked when she saw that the blonde was unmoving on her seat.

 

Tara didn’t answer but turned to face her.

 

“Wh-what was that?” she asked.

 

Faith shrugged to show she had no idea and pointed at the witch’s forehead.

 

“You’re bleeding a little,” she said.

 

Tara wiped her hand along her forehead and mopped the blood off taking no notice of her bloody fingers.

 

“Wh-what was that?” Tara repeated.

 

“Don’t know” Faith mumbled.

 

“Looked like some kind of flying demon,” she added a second after, thinking out loud. “But it disappeared so fast that I didn’t have enough time to see it clearly”

 

“I’ve never seen anything like that before” she said again a few moments later.

 

She backtracked along the car’s skid marks to the spot where they had been forced off the road. The roadway was blackened. Faith frowned.

 

“Whatever it was, it wasn’t very friendly” she mused.

 

“Do y-you think it w-was a dragon?” Tara asked, as she finally got out to join her.

 

“Don’t know” Faith replied and looked around again. “Do they even exist?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

 

Tara shrugged.

 

“Th-there are th-thousands of different k-kind of demons,” she explained hesitantly.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Faith bent over, examining the dark blemish on the road surface then looked up to the sky.

 

“By daylight!” she exclaimed. “Demons don’t attack by daylight very often”

 

She stood up and scrutinized the surroundings again.

 

“They don’t even stick to the rules anymore!”

 

Faith got back to the car and gestured to Tara to follow.

 

“C’mon Blondie, there’s nothing more here. Whatever it was, it’s gone”

 

 

***

 

 

Coming around a corner, Faith cried out in triumph as she spotted a village on the slope of the mountain.

 

“We made it!” she exclaimed. “You were right Blondie, right was right!”

 

“I can read a map,” Tara said as she nodded in agreement.

 

The car quickly traversed the remaining miles and got on the village main street.

The afternoon was drawing to an end. The sun was starting to set but it was still day. A bone chilling wind swept over the deserted sidewalks. Faith cast furtive glances about her, at both sides of the street and noticed with some surprise that all the shutters were closed and all the stores’ window blinds were drawn.

The Slayer frowned and slowed down to examine her surroundings carefully.

 

“Looks like no one’s around,” she said casually a little while later as she still hadn’t seen anyone. “Weird!”

 

“Don’t you think Blondie?” she added, turning to the blonde.

 

“Hmm? Wh-what?”

 

Tara snapped out of her reverie and turned to Faith when she realized the Slayer was speaking to her. The brunette rolled her eyes.

 

“Skip it,” she mumbled.

 

After driving around for several minutes through the still deserted streets, Faith finally parked the car when they got to a small square. She got out of the car.

 

“Let’s see what’s going on here,” she declared while closing her door.

 

She opened the rear passenger door and grabbed the weapons bag from the back seat. Taking two knives from the bag, she set them on her belt, and then added her crossbow and some bolts.

Tara watched her from her seat, motionless and Faith had to roll her eyes again when she noticed.

 

“Come with me Blondie.”

 

Tara glumly opened her door and got silently out of the car. Faith motioned to her to follow and headed into a bakery, also with closed blinds, located on the corner of the square.

The girls stopped in front of the closed door, Faith reading the opening hours sign attached to the storefront. The Slayer looked at her watch and frowned.

 

“Should be open,” she whispered.

 

She walked a few feet over to the adjoining butcher’s shop and noticed the same thing.

 

“Same here…”

 

“What?” Tara asked and Faith just about jumped when she heard her voice.

 

“Should be open,” the Slayer repeated in an annoyed tone.

 

“And it’s closed” Tara said. ”So what?”

 

Faith looked at her with an irritated expression and sighed deeply.

 

“Blondie, we’ve been wandering about for fifteen minutes and we’ve still seen no one. Doesn’t that seem a little weird to you?” she exclaimed.

 

She shrugged and resumed without giving Tara enough time to say anything.

 

“But why on earth should I expect you’d notice that kind of thing…”

 

She then turned and started knocking at the butcher’s shop door. This time, it was Tara’s turn to jump.

 

“What’re you doing?” she asked.

 

“Obviously, I’m knocking” Faith replied, rolling her eyes.

 

She rapped louder as no one answered the door and Tara shook her head.

 

“You’re gonna break the door.”

 

“Maybe if someone would answer” Faith grumbled and approached the window to try and see behind the closed blinds.

 

“Faith. It’s closed” Tara stated as if talking to a little child.

 

Faith turned to her with a look of annoyance.

 

“Blondie; just let me do this.”

 

Tara grimaced but nevertheless remained silent as Faith started to drum on the door again. Despite her doubts, the Slayer’s efforts were eventually rewarded, the door finally opening after several minutes and a man’s head came into view through the half open door.

 

“That took a while!” Faith exclaimed.

 

“We’re closed” the man groused, getting ready to close the door again.

 

But Faith put her foot in the doorway forcing the door to remain open.

 

“What do you want?”

 

“What’s going on here?” the Slayer asked. “We haven’t seen a soul since we got here”

 

“You won’t find anyone” the man replied quickly, still trying to close his door. “Everyone’s inside.”

 

“Why’s that? Not even dusk yet.”

 

He shrugged and pushed yet again wanting to shut the door.

 

“You should leave as quickly as possible, miss. You won’t find anything here.”

 

“Does this making of a ghost town have something to do with the flying beastie we saw on our way here?”

 

This time, the man stopped trying to close the door and looked curiously at Faith.

 

“You’ve seen it?”

 

“Yeah” she said. “It almost sent our car off the road,” she explained. “And tried to burn it.”

 

The man didn’t reply and went on staring at her.

 

“What’s up with that?” Faith asked. “Do you know what it is?“

 

“No” he said, shaking his head. “But…”

 

“Let us in” Faith interrupted, pushing in her turn on the door.

 

He hesitated for a moment then finally permitted the door to open wider, allowing the girls into his shop.

It was dark. A woman was standing in the doorway at the back of the shop.

 

“Who is it, Mike?”

 

“Strangers” the man replied. “They saw the…”

 

He glanced tentatively at the girls and finished.

 

“The monster.”

 

“Oh my God!” the woman said, approaching. “Are you hurt?”

 

“No, we’re not” Faith relied, shaking her head. “We’re five by five”

 

The woman frowned at the saying but didn’t add anything.

 

“So?” the Slayer resumed. “Do you know what it is?”

 

“No” the man answered again. “Why? What’s it to you?”

 

Faith pointed to the crossbow hanging at her belt. The man hadn’t noticed it in the shadowy room.

 

“I’m a demon fighter,” she explained.

 

He looked at her with a disbelieving look.

 

“Say again?”

 

“Demon fighter. Or Vampire Slayer” Faith casually said. “So, that demon?”

 

“What do you want to know?” the man asked as he went on staring at Faith with a skeptical expression.

 

“Everything” Faith replied simply.

 

“It came from out of nowhere a few days ago,” he explained. “At first, he came at night, then during the afternoon. He flies above the village and attacks anything that moves. There’s been about a dozen killed.”

 

“We tried to do something,” he continued, as Faith remained silent. “The police came. Well, they tried…”

 

“Yeah,” Faith said. “Not their thing”

 

“We called the authorities. They said they would send a team. That’s what they said.”

 

“Who or what does it usually attack?”

 

“Everything that moves. Cars, people. He comes. He goes. We lock ourselves in by late afternoon and hope that he won’t destroy our homes this next time.”

 

“Do you know where I can find it?”

 

“You can’t do anything,” the woman stated as she came to stand beside her husband. “It’s a monster”

 

“We can only wait and pray” the man added, looking at Faith.

 

“Wait and pray, huh?” Faith shrugged. “Not really my thing.”

 

“So?” she added after a silence. “Any idea where I ca…?”

 

A deafening clamor and a great commotion outside interrupted the Slayer. The woman huddled up to her husband as cries of terror could be heard.

 

“I guess you have your answer,” she whispered.