Chapter 1: The Wrong Place at the Right Time

“It was right here, I swear!” Buffy exclaimed, pointing to the ground where she had seen the body only an hour earlier. “Maybe the police came.”

“Ah yes, well, I suppose that’s possible, though I’ve never known the Sunnydale police to be that quick to act before.” replied Giles, leaning down to examine the grass.

Willow leaned down next to him, also feeling around for any clues as to where the body disappeared to.

“So see, Buf, maybe it’s a good thing to look crazy just this once,” said Xander, throwing an arm around the small blonde girl, who just rolled her eyes.

“I’m not crazy. You guys always think I am, and then dummies attack me or something equally as wiggy.”

Giles cleared his throat, stopping the fight before it could begin. “There was something here, and it most definitely could have been a body, judging by the pattern of the grass. The problem is, we have no idea what happened to it.”

“Or how he died,” Willow added, standing up with Giles’s help. “There’s no blood or anything. Are you sure you didn’t see any marks?”

“Yeah. He was just sort of...dead.”

They all looked at the ground for a moment, contemplating what happened.

Finally Buffy shrugged. “Oh well, I guess we can’t find anything here. Maybe we should all go home and sleep.”

“Yes, of course,” Giles replied, leading them towards the front gate of the cemetery. “Tomorrow’s a school day, so you should get some rest.”

“Technically today,” Willow replied, looking at her watch.

Xander and Buffy groaned in unison.

“The work of a scooby is never done,” said Willow, her voice entirely to perky for everyone else’s liking.

***

“Oh, that’s just great!” Maria shouted, gesturing toward the front of the car, which was billowing white smoke at the moment.

Michael tossed her a glare as he pulled the Jetta over to the shoulder and cut the engine. The smoke continued to leak out from beneath the hood as the car make some clacking sounds before becoming silent. He dropped his head to the steering wheel, letting out a loud honk, which made both passengers jump.

Maria recovered first, slapping him on the arm.

“Ow! What?!” Michael shouted, giving her an annoyed look.

“What?! WHAT?!” she shouted back, wanting nothing more than to punch him in his stupid cute alien face. Wait, cute? No, not cute, she amended. Freaky. Bad alien freaky. Yeah.

Michael sighed as his passenger had some sort of inner conversation with himself. He shook his head and got out of the car, going around the front to inspect the damage. He muttered to himself when he remembered that he actually had to pop the hood first, going back around to the front seat. He glanced at Maria as he leaned down to find the lever, amused to see her still sitting in the passenger seat, her arms folded and her expression full of hate.

He popped the hood and went back around to the front. Opening it up, he looked around for a few minutes until he finally had to admit to himself he had no clue how to fix it. It looked like a few things were broken, which should be an easy enough fix. Easy enough for Max at least. He was another question entirely. He almost screamed in surprise when a voice spoke up from directly behind him.

“So can you fix it or what?” Maria asked, trying to peer around him at the damage.

“Why don’t you own a real car?” he grumbled at her, trying to figure out where to start.

“You’re one to talk,” she replied, looking forlornly at the engine. “At least I don’t kidnap people and lock them in their own cars against their will when I need a ride.”

“If I hadn’t done that you would have jumped out the first chance you got.”

“Oh, I see, you did it for my protection. Of course! What WAS I thinking? It had nothing to do with the fact that you wanted to drive to another freaking state! Which, I might add, is even more illegal. Kidnapping me and taking me over state lines-”

“Could you just shut up for a minute?!” Michael said, holding his hand over the engine, “I need to concentrate and I can’t do it with you yapping.”

Maria huffed at him, but stopped talking.

He shut his eyes and focused on fixing the broken vehicle, while she watched from a few feet away, still amazed at what her new Czechloslavakian acquaintances could do with just their minds.

She was broken out of the moment when she noticed that he had somehow managed to catch her car on fire.

“Oh my god! Put it out!” she shouted, hitting his arm and forcing him to open his eyes.

Michael jumped, and quickly pulled off his jacket, throwing it over the engine to smother the flames. It worked, but not before a large black spot was burned into the fabric. He groaned and rubbed his face, looking around for the first time.

Fantastic.

They were in the middle of nowhere with a car that didn’t work, and they were both exhausted from being in a car for the last twelve hours.

“I guess we walk from here,” he said to Maria who was staring at her car and shaking her head, no doubt thinking of her mother’s reaction.

She just sighed and turned away from the car, walking down the empty road ahead of him, muttering to herself something that sounded suspiciously like “just because he’s a cute Czechloslovakian” to Michael.

He shook his head. He would never understand women.

***

“Ten more miles,” Michael said, glancing back at Maria, who was trudging farther and farther behind.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me! We’ve been walking for like four hours and there hasn’t been one single car. Where the hell is this town? The Bermuda Triangle?”

Michael stopped and looked at her, noticing how she was dragging her bag behind her and appeared to be limping a little. It was no surprise, considering the boots she was weariing. Taking pity on her, he plopped to the ground, resting his chin on his knees.

“Oh thank god,” Maria replied, dropping to the ground next to him and stretching out her legs. She dug through her bag until she found what she was looking for. Taking a long swig from a bottle of water, she passed it to Michael, who looked at her surprised, before taking a drink himself.

They sat in silence, the only sound the birds in the trees behind them.

***

“So what’s the what?” Buffy asked as she wandered into the library after school. “Did we figure out the dead body thing yet?”

Giles sighed, slamming a book closed. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for. I hate to say this, but maybe we should just wait for another body to show up. There are really no precautions we can take when we have nothing to go on.”

“Yeah well, maybe I’ll get lucky on patrol tonight,” Buffy replied, jumping up to sit on the counter.

“Who’s getting lucky?” Xander asked as he pushed the library door open and went in, followed by Willow.

“We have no idea what the dead guy was about.” Buffy replied, popping a piece of gum into her mouth.

Giles sighed and took off his glasses, cleaning them out of habit. He put them back on and sat heavily in a nearby chair. “Just be on the lookout during patrol. Perhaps you should all go together tonight while I continue to research.”

“Slay party!” Xander exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air.

“My kind of fun,” replied Buffy, jumping off the desk to take a seat next to Giles. All four grabbed books and started reading, biding their time until the sun went down.

***

Michael and Maria gained a second wind as the one mile sign for Sunnydale came into view. They picked up the pace to a fast walk, partly because they were so close to civilization and partly because the sun was quickly setting, which would leave them in total darkness if they were still on the road when it disappeared.

They had come to some sort of truce over the last hour which involved them not talking to each other, and therefore not fighting. They walked silently, Michael in front with Maria trailing a few feet behind. A rustling in some nearby trees made Maria look around wildly before speeding up to catch up with Michael.

“Just an animal,” he said as she kept pace right beside him. “The only scary thing out here is me.”

“Please, you’re not scary,” Maria said, still glancing around.

“Then why do you flinch every time I use my powers or even look at you for longer than two seconds?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh.” Michael studied her for a moment as she pointedly avoided his gaze.

They fell into silence once again.

***

The “Welcome to Sunnydale” sign was just a little green sign lit from below, but Maria thought it was quite possibly the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

By the time they wandered into the town, it was completely dark, and there were still no cars in sight. The first few buildings they came upon looked to be warehouses, all deserted.

Mariia tried to keep her distance from the alien next to her, but her surroundings were creeping her out way more than she had quite possibly ever been creeped out before. The fact that she had yet to see another human being since they left the car didn’t help matters.

As they walked past the last warehouse, the buildings suddenly disappeared and were replaced with what looked to be an extremely unkempt cemetery.

“Oh yeah, this isn’t creepy at all,” Maria muttered, causing Michael to smirk.

“Relax,” he said, the smirk firmly planted on his face, “it;s just a cemetery.”

“Yeah, that’s what you say right before a zombie comes to eat your brain or something.”

“Close.”

Both teens whipped around as they heard the word spoked from behind them. They had just enough time to wonder what the hell was going on before the man lunged at Maria.

She screamed and fell to the ground as Michael stood still for a moment, completely confused. He shook himself out of his stupor and grabbed the man from behind, hauling him slightly away from the still screaming girl.

“Okay, I guess she can be the second course,” the man said, turning to Michael. As his face was uncovered by the moonlight, Michael gasped.

“What the hell?!” he exclaimed before the man jumped up and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Hey, bloodbreath!” someone shouted from across the street.

The man let go of Michael and turned toward the voice.

As soon as Michael jumped away from him, there was a swishing noise and an arrow was suddenly lodged in the man’s chest.

All he managed to get out was “Son of a-” before he exploded into dust and drifted away.

“Holy shit,” Maria and Michael said at the same time, looking at the spot where someone had just turned into dust.

“Um, hey,” the person who saved them said as he walked over to them. “So yeah, about what you just saw...”

Michael helped Maria stand up, as she dusted herself off and pulled down her short skirt.

“What was that guy? I mean, what was wrong with his face? And did he seriously try to bite me? Was he rabid or something?” Maria asked, finally getting her outfit somewhat presentable.

“Um, yeah, just high on PCP or something. He must have run away.”

Michael studied the teenage boy who had saved them, and was still holding the crossbow as he tried to explain away the incident.

“Yeah sure.” he replied, as the boy sighed in relief. “Now tell us what really happened.”

The boy looked at them with surprise. “That’s new,” he muttered to himself before sticking out his free hand to Michael. “I’m Xander. Um, maybe we should get off the street and I can explain.”

Michael nodded, motioning for Xander to lead the way. The three headed off toward safety and lengthy explanations.

***