Title: Runaway

Author: PennyC

Chapter 15: Patrol

Disclaimer: See chapters 1 or 13.

Feedback: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed! Unfortunately there are too many people to name individually otherwise I would.

"Alright, everyone, that seems to be about it." Buffy was leaning against a wall with her arms folded. She had been in this damn meeting for the past 45 minutes and had almost lost the will to live. The man in charge had an incredibly annoying voice and she had given up trying to listen after the first 5 minutes. "Oh yes, Anna, you and Angel will be patrolling Sector E for the next 3 nights." Buffy finally managed to pull herself out of her deep contemplations at the mention of Angel's name. Unfortunately it was connected to the younger Slayer's.

"Sure. Do you want us to check on the people who have managed to return to their homes?"

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Make sure that they're still as safe as possible." Central Command had been moving people into a small area of mainly undamaged houses to help with the overcrowding. The place had it's own defensive unit but they weren't taking any chances. "Everyone can go, apart from Emerald Squadron, Buffy and Spike." The elder Slayer had barely noticed Spike. Wisely he had been keeping to the shadows and hadn't made a sound during the meeting, even the usual cigarette was absent. It took her a moment to realize that her name had been mentioned.

Slowly, wondering the entire time why she was wanted, she walked to the front. The man in army uniform who had been speaking turned his attention to her. "Now, Buffy, we've decided that you should start to patrol with Emerald Squadron. Spike has been helping them with his knowledge of Sunnydale and I'm sure that your expertise would be invaluable."

Buffy gritted her teeth. It hadn't escaped her noticed that he was speaking to her as if she was a small child. Or the fact that he assumed she couldn't look after herself. She and Angel had been training days now and after each session she felt more of her strength return.

And then there's the thought of patrolling everyday with those commandoes. I don't think I can stand it.

"I could patrol on my own. I know Sunnydale better than anyone. Except maybe Spike."

"Now, Buffy, I'm afraid that no one patrols on their own." His tone had somehow managed to become even more condescending.

"I'll patrol with her." The army guy seemed almost as shocked as Buffy herself when they realized who had spoken.

"Spike?" he asked incredulously.

The vampire shrugged. "Like the chit said we know this place better than anyone. With us on our own we can go to demon bars and such that you lot can't."

"Very well. Buffy and Spike will patrol together from now on. You'll leave at 2200 hours and patrol Sector G until sunrise." From the sniggers Buffy guessed that whatever that meant they hadn't been given a great job.

~

As they were preparing to leave on their patrol Buffy glanced at Spike. She couldn't believe what she was about to say. "Thanks."

Spike smirked at her around his newly lighted cigarette. "Didn't do it for you. I've patrolled with that bloody lot for almost a month now and I'll take you it's almost as bad as this damn chip in my 'ead. Besides, they never woulda' let me patrol on my own and at least you're a half way decent enemy." He had finished tying his bootlaces and stood up. "Right then, ready to go." As they went out the door realized that his earlier comment hadn't even been an insult.

"Where is Sector G anyway?"

"Bad side of town, by the docks. Most of it's even more of a wreck than it used to be but there are still some folk there. Normally a bit of trouble when you go down there, and I don't mean the demonic sort. Anna's the only one who they don't bother." From the way he said her name Spike didn't like her anymore than Buffy did.

~

They had been patrolling for the past four hours and were still a while from day break. Between them they had already killed 5 vampires and some kind of slimy demon. Buffy and Spike had spent the entire time talking and taunting each other. She had told him more about Los Angeles and in return he was telling her the things that Willow hadn't told her about Sunnydale.

"Those friends of yours handled themselves well. The ones from LA. Vampires were swarming all over the place and when they saw how to kill 'em one of those boys broke a chair into bits and started handing out stakes. They managed to kill a few each as well. Not bad considering." Buffy glanced at him. "What? I'm still evil you know. I like any blood shed, doesn't matter who it is."

"You're sick, Spike. Really sick."

"Thanks. Careful, pet, you want to watch yourself around here."

"I thought you said you liked any bloodshed." She had been trying to stop him calling her 'pet' all night but it didn't work. In the end she decided to just ignore it.

"If you die then I've got to find another partner, don't I?"

The area they had entered had always been a bad area, a lot of murders and muggings happened even without vampires. Suddenly Buffy stopped.

Spike threw his cigarette to the ground and stamped on it. "You feel that too?" he asked in a whisper. She nodded.

There was a hint of movement in the corner of her eye. She span around and looked carefully. "There. That warehouse." Carefully they both approached the blackened building. There was no glass in the windows and when they had pushed aside the boards over the doorway she saw that inside it was just a single cavernous room with a flight of stairs leading to another level.

There was another movement and with out hesitating she fired her crossbow into the shadows. There was a scream and an explosion of dust.

Moments later, as if that had been a signal, the place was crawling with vampires. "Fuck," whispered Spike.

"You're telling me." Their only exit was blocked and there were far too many vampires to fight. The only good thing about the situation was that their were no demons.

A vampire attacked from her right and she dodged the punch before leaning back and putting her stake through his heart. The next one was more cautious and didn't overreach himself. Buffy attacked first trying to make each kill as fast as possible. She slammed her leg into his chest, pulling it back before he could catch it. She followed the kick with a combination of punches to his head and managed to stake him before he could recover.

The next vampire wasn't so easy. He was stronger and clearly older. He punched her hard in the face and she reeled, barely keeping her footing. Finding her center of gravity just in time Buffy threw him as he advanced. There was no need to stake him, he was instantly trampled to death. She was grabbed from behind in a death grip by a female vampire. Struggling helplessly Buffy felt her air slowly dwindle. Suddenly remembering she felt around her belt buckle and found the tiny knife she had hidden there. She quickly plunged it as deeply as possible into the vampiress' right eye, before firing a bolt from her crossbow at the next vampire.

Buffy lost track of time and the number of vampires she had killed, all she knew was that there were too many. She had lost Spike near the beginning of the fight and hadn't seen him since. She was trying to fight towards the door but couldn't make much progress on her own.

"How you doing, pet?" asked a breathless voice by her ear. Buffy very nearly staked Spike by accident.

"God, Spike, don't do that!"

"Aw, I didn't know you cared." Between them they managed to carve a path towards the door when Buffy stopped. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Give me you're lighter!"

"What?!"

"Just give it to me!" His eyes rested on what she had seen. Crates of alcohol for the vampires, there were rivers of the sticky liquid on the floor from where bottles had been broken during the fighting. A savage grin lit his face and he handed her the lighter. Trusting Spike to keep her covered Buffy bent over and picked up a bottle that was nearly full. She ripped a strip of cloth from her shirt and ran it in the liquid on the floor before stuffing it in the bottle and lighting the whole thing. Quickly she threw her makeshift incendiary into the crates. "GO!"

She and Spike ducked out of the doorway and into the night beyond. There was a huge explosion and moments later the warehouse caught. There were screams from inside and vampires tried to get out of the door or windows but the Slayer and the vampire killed any that tried to escape. Hours later the warehouse was just a burnt out shell. The two of them had managed to kill a huge nest of vampires.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Buffy span, crossbow at the ready, before realizing that he was human.

"What do you mean, what are we doing?"

"You just burnt down our warehouse!"

"There was a nest of vampires in there," Buffy protested. A group of dirty people had clustered around the man.

"So what?" yelled one of them. "They were buying all the drink from us. You just ruined our business." She was amazed that when she and Spike had just saved all their lives all they could think about was their wallets.

"Anna wouldn't have done that."

Buffy opened her mouth to speak. "Just leave it, Slayer. They won't listen to you."

"Alright. Lets get out of here."