Spike awoke first to the sound of a boar creature snooping around their burned out fire. Spike jumped up, waking Buffy as he grabbed it and hit it over the head with a log from their firewood pile. Lifting it slightly into his arms, he then snapped his neck to ensure it was dead. He looked down at Buffy, “Sorry love, I had to move fast to get you breakfast.”
She nodded and stretched out feeling still sleepy but not wanting to say anything. He sighed, “Well I can restart the fire and get him cooked up so we can eat and head out if you’d like.”
Buffy nodded, “It’s way past our normal leaving time so we should eat fast and get out of here.” She watched as he relit the fire, restocking it and then lit up a cigarette. She wondered how many he was smoking a day because she hadn’t seen him smoking that often. Buffy sat up and started pulling on her clothes before sitting up cross legged, “Are you addicted to smoking? Do vampires get addicted?”
He shrugged, “It calms me down, helps me think but I don’t know about addicted. I don’t get all shaky when I don’t have it but I’m not much for an addicted personality. As you can see, I drink tons as well but again haven’t craved it once while here.”
She nodded and leaned back so her elbows were against the ground and her knees were bent, “I have to admit, I never liked the smell or taste of tobacco.”
Spike looked embarrassed, “Sorry pet.”
He went to put it out but she grabbed his hand shaking her head, “No, it’s fine. On you it works.”
He smiled and resumed smoking as he watched the pig cook up pretty fast. He was thankful it was cooking so fast and the fire was so hot because he didn’t really want to waste too much more time. They had at least 2 days to walk through the forest at this rate and then another day to make it into the village. He was worried about the nibblet.
Buffy must have been thinking about her too as she whispered, “Think they are treating Dawn well?”
Spike nodded hoping to calm her worries, “I have smelt no blood trail at all. Whoever took her, took her alive and well. She might be a little girl but she’s very resourceful. She’s a Summers after all. I’m sure she’s fine.”
Buffy nodded and hoped for the best. Part of her wanted to just run off without eating but she didn’t know what she might face. She was surprised it was taking so long and yet they were seeing no signs of anything. Perhaps time was all wonky in this universe. Perhaps what seems like days were really just hours and time moved different at different parts of their world. She shrugged not knowing how to explain what was going on but said a silent prayer that Dawn was okay.
She’d feel way better when she arrived in the village. She figured another 2 or 3 days yet of traveling. She hoped Spike would start to pick up a trail today since they were no longer on the cliffs. She started wondering if they would have even stopped to make camp or if they would have trudged on with Dawn in tow. She sighed and gratefully took the meat offered to her and dug in. She noticed Spike was also eating today and smiled. She was thirsty but hoped they would come along another stream. On the cliffs water had been plentiful. Mostly it was little streams of water falling off the sides of the cliffs but had been always plenty to keep her hydrated. She would make a point to go back to the one a few steps back to the right and drink up knowing she wouldn’t be getting much water in the forest. She smiled knowing in the forest she would have more privacy to her bathroom habits rather than her trying to find a rock to hide behind as Spike would laugh at her. Both were eager to get on the way.
They both stood up, Spike got dressed quickly and both donned their coats and with only a short stop for Buffy to drink up her fill of water, they started through the forest. The sun was well in the sky and it looked to be a bit before noon. They would have to travel fast through the forest and then stop as soon as they found shelter. With them sleeping in so much, they wouldn’t be able to play around. Buffy looked around at her surroundings realizing the forest was a busy place. There were noises all around her and both Spike and her stuck close together trying to make as little noise as possible. They were both trying to blend in not knowing what was in this place.
Buffy felt the urge to want to run through the forest and just get out of here even if she ran through the night. She couldn’t see the sun much so she figured night traveling would be off limits but perhaps if she got far enough in, the trees would be less dense. She didn’t know much about forest life but that of course wouldn’t be possible since the further in you went, the more dense the trees got.
Both were quick and lively in their steps and were making excellent time. Spike almost wondered if they could travel through the night with Spike guiding Buffy, if they would make it out in record timing. Surely the village would have some sort of lodging for them to sleep in. In silence they continued to briskly walk through the forest. Occasionally they would see a bird or tiny creature scurry across their path. They had yet to see any big animals and were really grateful for it. Buffy really wanted to keep walking. She was high in spirits and only wanted a short break at nightfall to eat before continuing. She was anxious now to get to the village. She wanted a bath and new clothes. God how she wanted new clothes because the ones Spike and she were wearing had been really torn up. Her shirt had more rips in it than fabric for her stomach area. Luckily her chest was still covered where as Spike had the whole back of his ripped to shreds with rips and tears and huge holes in the front of his. His pants were tattered and torn from the knees down. Her skirt was still in fairly good condition minus normal rips and tears. She would so burn these clothes when she got new ones. Spike looked over at her and suggested, “If you don’t care about what you eat tonight, I’m thinking a few small animals will make things easiest.”
Buffy agreed. She quietly decided to bring up the traveling through the night thing, “Since we are making such great time, think we can just continue through the night with torches to get out of here by morning? I’m not really seeing any real shelters that aren’t already taken and I don’t fancy myself sleeping under the tree canopy just waiting to be attacked.”
Spike didn’t really like the idea but knew she was getting anxious to rescue Dawn, “You stay quiet and close to me and you can carry a torch. I don’t really need one.”
Buffy nodded and sighed, grateful because she didn’t like the noises in this forest much. They continued to travel with Spike holding the occasional vine as Buffy passed or them stepping over occasional underbrush. They were really making excellent time before Spike whispered “Shh.” He leaped into the air to stand up holding a rabbit like creature. Buffy yelled, “No” and the thing wiggled free. Spike frowned at her, “What was that for?”
Buffy pouted and sat down on the ground as she explained, “I can’t eat something so cute. Try for something uglier.”
Spike shook his head but sat down next to Buffy to be still to capture the next creature. Sure enough within a few minutes a weird looking small creature wandered close to them. Spike leaped up and grabbed the creature and Buffy sighed shaking her head. Spike held the squirming animal, “Why not? I don’t even know what this thing is?”
Buffy shrugged and Spike dropped the fur ball into her arms. Buffy giggled and beamed at Spike, “For me? Can I keep it as a pet?”
Spike laughed and shook his head obviously amused, “If you can manage keeping it quiet while we are walking, then sure. So what do you expect us to eat there princess? It’s getting late, and night is going to fall making it bleeding harder to find things to hunt and you keep turning down the smaller creatures.”
Buffy shrugged as she felt the little creature in her arms settle down. She smiled at it and asked hopeful, “Can I name it?”
Spike shrugged annoyed but still thought the image was still amusing to him. He sighed as he spotted what appeared to be some kind of bird like creature. He caught it dragging it back to Buffy and Buffy nodded her approval. He remembered when he just brought the food home and thought that was perhaps a better idea. He snapped its neck and went about setting up a fire in a cleared out area. He set up the bird to roast thankful it was a fairly big bird. He watched as Buffy played with her creature as she declared, “I’m naming it Fuzzy for now.”
Spike laughed, “That’s a horrible name for the thing.”
Buffy pouted, “Fuzzball?”
Spike laughed, “That’s a tad bit better but name it a real name at least.” Buffy shrugged as Fuzzball curled up in her lap.
She patted it, “It’s Fuzzball unless Dawn changes its name.”