- Escape -
2
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Buffy felt herself slowly drifting back to reality and was about to open her eyes when she suddenly heard unfamiliar voices close by…
"…never seen so many code white resuscitations, Jean-Luc. Two of them needed emergency surgery; I almost lost the older one. They’re in recovery now. One was DOA." - Female.
"How are the others?" - This from a man.
"Stabilised. I’ve already made arrangements for the deceased."
"I need to know, Beverly – when will I be able to talk to them? I have to-"
"Captain! …Jean-Luc. …I will let you know when I decide they are fit. My duty is to my patients. That’s why I’m the Doctor."
The man let out a deep chuckle, "Yes, of course, but they may be the key to whatever we are holding in the lab."
"I understand. I’ll let you know as soon as I have something to report."
Then the sound of movement…
Quiet.
Buffy went into automatic Slayer-mode and quickly weighed up the possibilities.
‘We were in the magic shop…the box blew a fuse…then the pain!
…And then nothing.
'Either I’m in hospital or this is the waiting room to hell.’
She nipped at her tongue with her teeth, ‘Ok; I’m awake – not dreamin’ the dream of the dead’, she thought, ‘And OW!’
She really needed to get a feel for where she was ‘Before the devil turns me into spit-roast’.
It felt like she was lying down on something soft and flat, ‘Please be my bed’, and the air smelled…
In fact, she found that there was no smell at all.
‘That doesn’t help – if it was the hospital it would have that sterilised smell.’
She was gonna have to take a peek…
Opening her eye just a little bit, she saw a bright light above her and for a second thought it was God.
Looking to the side, she saw a high-up flat bed – most likely the same type she was on – and on it lay ‘Xander!’
He looked asleep; alive but unconscious. The room they were in had a dull grey/brown colour scheme with lit up panels on sections of the wall. ‘Eerie’.
Opening her other eye, Buffy saw another bed where someone in a black and grey outfit was loading a device and prodding it into…
‘Willow!!’
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Duty Nurse Alyssa Ogawa gave the young woman one final small dose of Dexalin to help her with her breathing. This was the auburn-haired girl she and nurse Branaghan had finally managed to resuscitate after treating her head trauma with a good dose of Inpedrezine. It had been a close ca- "AAH!"
Before Alyssa had time to react, her left arm was twisted behind her back and a small hand had her by the throat.
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The Slayer scanned the room – ‘Definitely not at the hospital’.
That left her the other option – Hell, or a Demon realm. Either way she was taking no chances.
"What have you done to her?!" She tightened her grip.
"Please…she needed Dexalin. It’s alrigh-"
"Buffy?" – it was Willow; she was awake.
‘Alright’, Buffy thought, ‘Enough chit-chat’. With that, the oriental woman tried to prod her with another gadget. Acting fast, Buffy let go of the woman’s arm and quickly guided the gadget into HER shoulder.
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Alyssa swore to herself as the hypo shot a strong sedative into her own bloodstream.
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The woman relaxed suddenly into Buffy’s arms and fell to the floor. ‘Oh, crap’.
Willow got off her bed, "Buffy! You killed her!"
Checking her pulse, Buffy said, "She’s fine, let’s get Xander."
As they woke him up the old-fashioned way Willow asked, "Buffy, where are we?"
She looked around again, "I have no idea, maybe hell."
Willow puzzled over that a moment, "So, where’s the fire…and the brimstone?"
"Good point."
Xander opened his eyes slowly and rubbed at them with clenched fists, "Aw, man! I had the weirdest dream." He sat up and regarded them and their surroundings.
"I liked the other one better." He said, lying down again.
"Xander, get up!" Buffy said firmly, "We are awake, …I think."
He moaned and slipped off the bed to stand with them. "Are we in hell? ‘Cos if we are, I’d like to say its reputation is a tad overstated."
"What are we gonna do?" Willow asked.
They searched for a way out; Willow spotted a dark orange section of wall that looked different to the rest, "Is that a door?"
The Slayer went to it, "It will be soon."
She made to kick it through but wasn’t expecting what happened next – The wall slid away before her and the momentum carried her too far and she landed on her butt.
She got up and composed herself, "Load up the camels, we’re getting outta here."
Will made her way to join Buffy but Xander didn’t move, "Hello!" he said.
"Come on, Xander," She pleaded, "let’s go."
He just stood there with his arms open as if to say ‘Have you seen what you’re wearing?’
They all checked out their clothes and grimaced. ‘We can’t go out like this!’
Dressed in thin purple pyjamas, the three of them pondered a minute before getting their priorities straight and high-tailed it out of there.
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