Xander: The Great Outdoors By Kuzibah

Part 10 of the Summer Vacation Series Disclaimer: Xander isn�t mine. But I�m thinking of organizing a hostile takeover. Author�s Notes: I can almost guarantee this won�t be how Xander spent his Summer when the series returns in the Fall. Humor me. Archive- Sure, but email me and let me know where it�s going. Feedback- Absolutely. ******************* Xander lay back on his bunk in Green Cabin at Camp Big Bear and took out his writing tablet. He had taken the job as a counselor at the camp for �at-risk� kids tucked in the mountains for several reasons. It paid fairly well, for starters, the program being financed by many lucrative grants. It also got him out of his parents� house and away from Sunnydale and into the fresh air and wilderness. It gave him a break from Anya, who, while she had relaxed considerably from the early days of their relationship, could still be a little smothering at times. But it was mostly because when he read the job description at the employment agency, he had felt he could do good for these kids. He had done a four-day training course and then, when the children had arrived, he was assigned five boys, aged 11 to 13, and a small, Spartan cabin. It had taken a few days for the boys to warm to one another, and to Xander, but on the fourth night, after lights-out, muttered insults had transformed into a merry game of the dozens, and the boys banded together. They had also given each other nicknames, which, while seemingly too cruel to be spoken in front of the camp administrators, had been adopted by the boys as a symbol of belonging to something greater than themselves. Xander Harris, a.k.a. Captain Shaggy, couldn�t be prouder. �Dear Anya,� Xander wrote. �We begin our two-day hike tomorrow, so I won�t be able to send you any letters until I get back, but I will continue to write.� Xander sucked at the end of his ball-point thoughtfully, imagining how best to word his note so as to cause his catastrophically insecure girlfriend the least amount of stress possible. In the woods outside an owl screeched, and inspiration struck. �When I hear the gentle birdsong in the forest around me,� he wrote. �I think of the sound of your voice, its tones like a melody�� �Captain, you awake?� stage-whispered the oldest boy, �Psychlo.� �Yeah,� Xander answered. �What is it?� �We gonna be sleepin� outside tomorrow?� �Yes.� �You mean right on the ground?� said another boy, nick-named �Dawg.� �Not right on the ground,� Xander explained. �We�ll have a big oilcloth tarp, and you�ll all have sleeping bags.� All the kids were awake now, and Xander could hear them moving around restlessly. �We ain�t gonna be in the woods, are we?� said �Chalupa,� a heavyset Chicano boy. �Cause I saw that Blair Witch movie�� �Oh, man, �lupa,� �Zippy� interrupted, �that movie was weak.� There was a sudden flurry of opinionated discussion that Xander had to shout down. �It�s lights out!� he told the boys. �Keep it in the cabin!� �Ski,� the smallest and youngest of the Green Team, spoke up. �Will we be in the woods?� Xander hesitated before answering. �Well, of course,� he said. �It�s camp.� There was another outburst, and Xander had to quiet them again. There was a long stretch of silence, and Xander had started writing again when there was a whisper in the darkness. �You don�t really think there�s ghosts, do you?� Dawg said softly. �You�re crazy,� Psychlo said. �No, there is ghosts,� Zippy said. �I saw this show with this guy who talks to dead people�� �My grandmother said there were ghosts in her house when she was young,� Chalupa added. �Ghosts aren�t dangerous,� Xander said. �They�ve just got unfinished business. If we find one, I�ll take care of it. Now get to sleep. We�re hiking tomorrow.� The boys settled down, then, �What about werewolves?� Zippy asked softly. �Full moon isn�t for two weeks,� Xander said, yawning. �You sure?� �Hey, I�m looking out for you guys,� Xander assured him. �What about aliens?� Dawg asked, only half serious. �How about zombies?� Psychlo said, laughing. �What about vampires?� said Chalupa. Despite the light tone of the conversation, Xander felt his stomach give an involuntary lurch. What about vampires, indeed. - - - - - - - - - Green Team had been doing more fighting than walking in the first six hours of the hike. They had argued about what they needed to pack, about who would carry the food and tarp, and about who would help prepare lunch. Now, in the second leg of the hike, they were fighting over which way the map and directions were telling them to go. Xander was grateful that he had taken the hike during his training session, where he had learned the hidden signs posted on the trail so they could find their way in just such a situation. He took the opportunity, while the boys were still debating, to check the front pocket of his backpack again. He didn�t expect trouble, but life in Sunnydale had taught him to prepare for the truly unexpected. He had two stakes, a bottle of holy water, and a rather large cross. �Okay, guys,� he announced, approaching the circle of boys all yelling and pointing in different directions. �Let�s see that map.� - - - - - - - - - Miraculously, they reached the campsite, an open meadow on the mountain-top. Xander set Psychlo and Chalupa to securing their groundcloth with stakes (�please try not to hit each other with hammers�) while Dawg, Zippy and Ski gathered branches from the edge of the woods for the fire. Despite the appearance of virgin wilderness, the camping area was pretty firmly established, with a pump and latrines just out of sight. But Xander didn�t want to tell the boys that just yet. As far as they were concerned it was now a case of rally together for the common good, or get voted off the island. The tactic worked. By the time someone thought to ask what they were supposed to do for bathroom facilities, the groundcloth and sleeping bags were in place and a campfire was roaring. The team roasted wienies and marshmallows on sticks, and baked potatoes in the hot coals. Night fell, and in the sky more stars than Xander had ever seen in his life ignited. Even the boys were awed into silence. Xander threw a few more bundles of branches on the glowing embers and poked the fire back into life. �Hey,� said Dawg. �Let�s tell ghost stories.� Zippy and Ski looked a bit uncertain, but Xander moved closer to them and patted their shoulders reassuringly. Psychlo started, recounting the tale of Bloody Mary, who would appear if you repeated her name thirteen times in a mirror. Dawg told a version of the ghost hitch-hiker, and Chalupa told of the Chupacabra. Ski surprised them all with a story his grandmother had told him about a skull that refused to be buried. The boys shivered, despite the warm weather. Finally, it was Xander�s turn. He realized the most horrible stories he knew had really happened, but he didn�t want to betray any of his friends� confidences or pain. He found he had to go back a few years. �Well,� he began, �we had this experiment in school, where we had to take care of these eggs�� Xander�s story, when he finished, was met with five blank stares. Psychlo spoke first. �Man, Shaggy, that was totally lame.� �Yeah,� said Dawg, �don�t you know any scary stories?� �But that�s true,� Xander insisted, and all five boys laughed, even Ski. It seemed like in no time, the fire had burned to embers again. Xander rose, fetched the two �emergency� buckets of water from outside the circle, and doused the coals. They gave off a roaring hiss and sent clouds of steam into the air. In the absence of firelight, the mountaintop seemed suddenly very dark. Four flashlights snapped on. �Bedtime,� Xander said. Green team, all more exhausted than they realized, crawled into their sleeping bags. Xander felt something against his back and pulled out a rough approximation of a "Blair Witch" twig doll. "Cute," he muttered, tossing it aside. He could hear the boys stifling laughter. "We're coming to get you, Captain Shaggy," Dawg said in a goofy-spooky voice, and the boys laughed again. "We're the evil breakfast food. Whoo-o-o-o," Psychlo added. "Yeah, yeah. Sunrise comes early," Xander told them, and after a few more perfunctory moans and groans, the boys drifted off to sleep. Xander did too. - - - - - - - - - - It was still the middle of the night when Xander came suddenly awake, his heart racing. He stared into the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust and again heard the sound that had awoken him: a low, feral growl. Xander prayed it was just one of the boys making a joke as he snapped on his flashlight and pointed it in the sound's direction. An enormous vampire was crouched over Ski, its hands on the boy's shoulders. When the light hit it, it turned towards Xander and growled again. Too late, the counselor realized he had yet to struggle out of his sleeping bag. A moment later the vampire realized it, too. Xander reached under his pillow; at home, he always kept a stake there, but here he'd neglected it. He looked around wildly and spotted his backpack ten feet away. The vampire dropped on top of him just as Xander had rolled onto his stomach and begun to scramble out of his bedding. He was knocked flat, and his breath was forced out of his chest. He felt the creature's long, cold fingers on his throat. Just then Ski let out a scream. The vampire started, rising on its hands and knees. Xander took the opportunity to propel himself forward on his elbows, out from underneath his undead attacker. The vampire grabbed one ankle and Xander twisted, cracking it across the face with his other heel. Rattled, it released its grip, and Xander pounced on his backpack. He was fumbling with the pocket when the vampire grabbed his leg. Ski screamed again, followed by sleepy exclamations as the other boys came awake. Xander took hold of the backpack frame and swung it in a wide arc, connecting with the vampire's head. It dropped like a sackful of cabbages. Xander extracted a stake and leapt on the creature, plunging it into its chest, and was startled, as he always was, by the flimsy nature of vampire flesh against a wooden weapon. The stake passed right through, into its heart, and the vampire dissolved into dust. Xander immediately went to Ski, who was now staring, goggle-eyed, at the place where the vampire used to be. Xander took hold of the boy's shoulder with one hand and his chin with the other and turned his head from side to side, checking his throat. "Are you okay, Ski?" he asked worriedly. "Are you hurt?" "I'm okay," the boy said softly. "What's going on?" Zippy asked fuzzily, and the others echoed him. "Just a bad dream," Xander told them. "Go back to sleep." The kids muttered and settled back into their sleeping bags, but Ski took hold of Xander's arm. "What was it, Captain?" he said, his voice barely audible. "It's dead, Ski. It's gone," Xander said. Ski spun his gaze around, peering into the darkness. "What if there are more?" he said. Xander picked up the flashlight, turned it on and shone the beam in a full circle around the campsite. "It's okay, Ski," he said. "I'll stay awake. It's only a few hours until dawn." The boy's face broke into a wide grin of relief. "Thanks, Captain," he said, and lay back down, snuggling into his bedding. Xander moved back to his own sleeping bag and sat on it, cross-legged. He removed the other weapons from his backpack and put them in his lap. He'd have to warn the other counselors, find some excuse to keep other groups from coming here. But he had awhile to think. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, now, and he watched the boys, his boys, as they restlessly slept, their thin chests rising and falling, their hands twitching. He turned the stake in his fingers and gripped it tighter. If there were more vampires in the woods, and if they came in search of easy prey, he'd make sure they wouldn't find it. He was a soldier in the Slayer's war, after all. Part 11- A Lack of New Fanfic Main Menu   ~   Summer Vacation Series

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