Portal

Buffy, from the portal, could still hear Tru.

"Effy? Hi, ehm...Yeah, it's Tru. Could we talk?"

Chapter 4: Wrong Turn, Wrong Girl

Author: Electra

Rated: R

Buffy felt branches hitting her chest and face so she put her arms up to block the many blows. That wasn't a smart idea, of course, as she landed straight on her butt with her legs spread in a `v' before her. She winced as her bottom took the force of her landing and knew that she wasn't going to have the easiest time getting up.

Or walking.

Or, yunno . . . moving.

She leaned back onto her hands, completely ignoring the way her palms pressed into damp soil and leaves. For a moment she was glad that she was alone because the grimace on her face probably would have scared even the most hardened criminal, but the sound of rustling in the nearby brush made her realize that she wasn't, in fact, alone.

Looking around, she realized that the tall trees and rolling hills around her didn't exactly scream familiar.

"Guess that means I'm not exactly in Kansas anymore," she grumbled under her breath. "Or Ohio. Wherever home happens to be that isn't here, obviously."

The rustling in the bushes continued but this time from a different direction. She snapped her head around to look for the source of the noise but it seemed to be on the move and she couldn't quite pin down where it was coming from and who — or what — was making it.

"If you're a big, woman-eating demon, might I suggest you start with a nice roast? The rump has already been tenderized," she said, her voice straining as she stood up and rubbed her sore bottom.

The rustling continued but now it sounded as if it was coming from two directions. Buffy dropped into a defensive position and slowly moved in a small circle, doing her best to keep on guard from all angles. A loud, raucous laugh sounded throughout the woods and Buffy's heart began racing. Animals generally didn't laugh, unless they were hyenas.

Oh god, please don't let them be hyenas. She'd already deja'd that vu.

Suddenly a shape barreled out of the brush and ran toward her, letting out a guttural howl. It had some kind of a crude weapon — maybe a machete? — in its hand and . . . wait, was that a man? Buffy knew that vampires had the ugly bumpies but this guy took the cake when it came to ugly bumpiness!

He swung his arm down hard and would have split her in half had it not been for her slayer reflexes. She leapt to the side and down into a somersault, bouncing almost immediately back up to her feet. She was facing the man who stood a few yards away from her when she heard a twig snap behind her. There was no time to turn so Buffy tried to leap forward into another somersault, but a hand gripped her wrist and pulled her back. She tightened her left hand into a fist and was prepared to spin back and unleash fury when she noticed that it wasn't another bumpy man behind her but a young woman.

A bumpless young woman.

A bumpless young woman that happened to look just like Faith.

"I'd venture a guess that you're Faith, but I know I'd be wrong because there's no way she would ever be out in the woods like this. She's more of a city girl." Then again, Faith had always been unpredictable. Buffy furrowed her brow. "You're not Faith, are you?"

The girl's gaze moved from Buffy's eyes to just over her shoulder where they widened at what they saw behind her.

"I have an idea: we run now and save religious talk for later."

Buffy quickly turned to follow the girl's gaze and brought her hands up just in time to stop the machete from splitting her in half again. She grimaced when her hands touched the wrinkled and lumped-up skin of the man's wrists. When he started to struggle, she brought her leg up and kneed him in the gut, making him double over in pain. His grasp around the rusted machete faltered and Buffy was able to wrestle it away before giving him another hard kick to the abdomen.

"How about we make sure he doesn't follow us first," Buffy said.

She lifted her arm back and quickly brought the machete down, severing the man's head from his body. It clunked onto the forest floor with a sickly thud and rolled just enough for Buffy to see his severely deformed face.

"What was that thing?" she asked, a grimace on her face.

"Some kind of mutant. There were three of them; they murdered my friends and separated me from a guy we met out here."

"So, two left?" Buffy asked, itching her cheek with her shoulder so that she wouldn't have to use her dirty hands.

"As far as I know. We need to keep moving before they find us."

"I second that," Buffy said. They turned and looked around, trying to find a suitable direction to take in the quickly darkening forest. After a few awkward moments of silence, she continued, "I'm Buffy. And . . . I'm sorry about your friends."

The girl nodded and pressed her lips into a firm line, trying to fight back her emotion. "Jessie. Thanks."

They seemed to have settled on an area sloping slightly downwards and started walking in that direction. The light was fading fast and while Buffy had no problem with the dark, she could hear Jessie struggling to keep from tripping beside her. The same eerie laughing from before started sounding from out in the forest again and Buffy knew that they had to pick up their pace if they were going to get away.

Not even thinking about it, she grabbed Jessie's hand and tugged her along a bit quicker, steering her perfectly around the trees, shrubs, and ground debris; using the rusty machete to chop back any limbs in their way. Jessie clung tightly to her as they maneuvered and slid down a gentle slope, and Buffy couldn't help but laugh silently to herself. Faith would never let her lead like that. Faith would never depend on her for anything that involved showing emotions or weakness.

Well, emotions besides lust, that is.

Faith had no problem showing that one, but she also had no problem showing it to damn near everyone she knew. There was no way Buffy would ever respond to it when it obviously meant nothing to Faith.

Besides, Buffy was straight. Totally straight. The straightest girl in the history of straightdom. There was no way she'd ever fall for Faith's many, many, many, many advances.

Shaking her head, Buffy stopped to give Jessie a short break when they reached the bottom of a ravine. She focused her eyes and looked around, scouting for a safe place for them to stop for the night. There was no way of knowing how long she'd be stuck here for and she planned on making it out alive.

"How are you able to see anything out here?" Jessie asked, still a bit out of breath. "You were booking through those woods like you've been through them before. Please tell me you're not local."

"I'm not local," Buffy said easily enough. Seeing the expectant look on Jessie's face, she continued, "I have great eyesight. It's . . . a gift."

"So where are you from and what are you doing out here?" Jessie asked, taking a seat on a large rock.

Buffy remained standing, her eyes fixed on the forest to look for signs of danger.

"That's a loaded question," she said honestly, then sighed. "I'm from Sunnydale originally . . ."

"Whoa, you mean the place with the earthquake?" Jessie asked.

"One in the same. We moved to Cleveland afterwards because there's another Hell . . ." she stopped herself and stole a glance over at Jessie who was looking at her even more strangely now. "Umm, Hello Kitty store. My little sister is obsessed."

"Yeah," Jessie said after a few moments silence, "that wasn't a lie."

Buffy was going to defend herself and her lying ability but her eyes caught the flicker of a torch in the woods at the top of the ravine and she quickly grabbed Jessie's hand and started pulling her along again. She could hear the sound of moving water nearby and, being in the mountains like they were, she figured there'd have to be a cave or a rocky crevice they could hold out in until morning.

"You never answered my second question," Jessie said as they trudged along.

"Second question?" Buffy thought about it for a moment. "Oh, you mean about why I'm out here."

"That's the one," Jessie said. "And maybe you can go for the truth this time."

Buffy shrugged. Why the hell not? "I'm here because I was with my . . . umm, well, Faith — who happens to be your identical twin — in an alley when some kind of a big stoney demon crept up on us. He tossed me into a green portal and I can't seem to figure out how to get back home. And the best part? I have no idea where Faith is. I thought you were her, but the Powers That Be are just pulling some kind of awesome prank on me."

Her sarcasm wasn't lost on Jessie who finally managed to stop staring at her and started walking with more determination.

"Right, so forget the truth then."

"Believe it or not, that was the truth," Buffy said. "Doesn't really matter though. We're still stuck out here. If we can find a place to hide until morning, I'm pretty sure I can get us out of here. I have an incredibly keen sense of direction."

"Hey, Buffy? I hate to break it to you, but we're in the middle of the woods of West Virginia. Our car was trashed and I doubt we'd get out of here if it worked, even if we had a map and compass."

And while Buffy wasn't willing to signal defeat just yet, she knew that she was being optimistic about her ability to get them out of there. Maybe she'd get zapped home before the night was through, but even then . . . what would happen to Jessie out there all alone?

She didn't respond; she simply kept walking, tugging Jessie along with her. As they got nearer the sound of the waterfall, there was a bit more moonlight illuminating the clearing ahead of them around the water. Buffy could vaguely make out a deeply shadowed area behind the falling water and she led them in that direction. Jessie seemed to be slowing down again, though, so Buffy directed them over to a large boulder on the bank so the girl could rest up before their climb.

Jessie didn't need to be told to sit. By the time Buffy turned around, the girl was already seated and rubbing her right leg.

"Are you injured?" Buffy asked.

"I cut my leg up a little bit earlier. Guess that happens when you fall out of a tree." She paused when Buffy bent down before her and placed the machete on the ground, then lifted up her pant leg as high as her jeans would allow. "Jesu....ouch!"

"Sorry," Buffy apologized, her eyes focusing in the dim light of the moon. "We're gonna have to clean this leg if you don't want it to get infected."

"Are you some kind of nurse?" Jessie asked, wincing when Buffy pushed her pant leg back down and grabbed the machete.

"I've just seen my share of bumps and bruises," Buffy answered evasively. "Think you can walk?"

"Yeah."

Jessie stood up unsteadily, her leg feeling worse and worse every time they stopped. Her adrenaline was pumping less and those oh-so-good endorphins were wearing off.

"Come on," Buffy said, ducking her head under Jessie's arm so that she could help the girl along.

They struggled up a rocky slope and climbed until they were able to reach a small ledge on the cavern wall. Buffy had to walk in front of Jessie on the narrow ledge but she still held her hand, offering as much physical support as she could. When they finally reached the mouth of the black cave hidden mostly by the waterfall, Buffy let go of Jessie's hand and made her wait on the ledge while she went inside and checked it out. Satisfied that the cave was vacant of any kind of creatures that could harm them, Buffy jogged back to Jessie's side and helped her into the cave, settling her down with her back against a big boulder.

"We need a cloth to dampen so that I can take care of that leg," Buffy said.

Seeing as that her pants were already mostly demolished, Jessie ripped off the material from her calf down and tossed it over to Buffy. Wasting no time, Buffy quickly made her way back to the cave entrance and ran the cloth through the waterfall, wringing it out several times. Once it was fully saturated again, she gave it one last wring and made her way back to Jessie. She knelt down in front of her and looked up into her eyes, lingering there for a moment.

"This is probably gonna hurt, huh," Jessie said.

"Probably. And as much as you want to scream your head off, you can't. Those things are still out there and we can't tip them off to our hiding spot."

Jessie took in a deep breath and exhaled through her nose. She nodded after a moment and rested her head back on the boulder, bracing herself for the pain.

Buffy went straight to work, carefully wiping over the wounds as best as possible. There were some deep gashes along with a few shallow scrapes and she could tell that Jessie was doing everything in her power to keep quiet.

"If you were Faith, you'd be swearing and possibly throwing punches at me right now," Buffy said, slightly amused. Besides, she figured that the distraction might be good for Jessie.

"Trust me, the urge is there," Jessie replied, making Buffy chuckle softly.

"I need to rinse this again. Stay here."

"Not like I'm gonna jump up and do a little dance behind your back."

Buffy made her way back to the entrance again and rinsed and wrung the cloth several times before making her way back to Jessie's side. She quickly but gently swabbed the wounds a couple more times before blowing on them to take the stinging away.

"That's as good as we're gonna get," she said, tossing the soiled cloth to the side.

"Thanks," Jessie replied, scooting back up against the boulder a little.

They were quiet for a few minutes as Buffy rested back against the wall opposite the boulder so that they were facing one another. Buffy closed her eyes and sighed, trying to figure out their next move. Jessie needed to rest — and honestly, she did too — but they had to put some distance between them and the two remaining mutants after them. Even then, how was she supposed to get back to Cleveland and the world that she knew, and more so, would Faith be waiting for her when she got back?

"Tell me about her," Jessie said, her voice weary.

"Faith?" Buffy asked. At Jessie's nod, she drew in a deep breath and exhaled. "She looks just like you. A bit pig-headed though. Stubborn. Very, umm . . . flirty."

"Is that why you're pissed at her?" Jessie asked.

"Why do you think I'm pissed at her?" Buffy asked, intrigued.

"Just a vibe I get," Jessie replied with a shrug. "So she flirts and you get jealous?"

"Why would I get jealous?" Buffy asked. She was lucky it was dark in the cave because if Jessie had been able to clearly see her face, she'd probably be laughed at.