Disclaimer on page 1

The Long Road Home

by: Nos4a2

Part Six

Officer Bob tugged on the throttle, and the small boat jumped over a wave. Willow grabbed onto Oz, while Cordelia shrieked. Xander touched her arm, but she slapped him.

"Last time I try to powder my nose on a moving boat." she grumbled.

Xander was going to make some witty rejoiner to that statement, but Giles announced "We're here." They had reached Alcatraz Island.

"Hey, Giles, are you sure about this?" Xander asked. "I mean, we've all seen 'The Rock'. Oh, and 'Escape from Alcatraz'. Lots of bad stuff happens here." Giles only glared, but Mrs. Summers looked at them all comfortingly.

"It'll be okay." she said, frowning in worry for her daughter. Joyce had been wracked by guilt over the last words she'd said to her baby girl. She knew their fight had driven Buffy from home, maybe forever. Joyce just wanted a chance to make things right with her daughter. She had accepted that Buffy was a vampire Slayer after a long week of soul-searching. And Joyce had relized that Buffy needed love and support. She was willing to help Buffy fight the forces of evil. But for now, she just wanted her daughter home and safe. Officer Bob jumped out of the boat, and Xander tossed him a line.

"Here." Oz said to Willow, helping her out of the boat. Willow was so glad she'd regained the use of her legs. She would be such a hassel to cart around San Francisco. Willow lost her train of thought as Oz's hands lingered on her waist for a second longer than needed, and Willow felt that familiar sense of warmth and love for Oz. What had she ever done without him? Ever since she'd been injured in the vampire assult in the library, he'd been completely there for her. She touched his hand gently.

"Thanks." she murmered, and was rewarded by his smile. She grinned back in return, but the moment was shattered with Giles' next words.

"Let's get this tour started, right?" the Watcher said to the policeman. Bob nodded and turned on a flashlight.

"The, uh, tourist entrance is over there." Bob announced, starting to the right. Joyce furrowed her brow, and pointed to the left.

"Um, Officer Bob? That sign says it's over there...." Bob looked at the sign, and coughed.

"Right, that way!" he said with an authoritive sound in his voice. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea afterall, he thought.

**********************

Spike cocked his head to the left. "The boat's been shut off. I think they landed on the island, though."

"Law enforcement?" Whistler asked. Buffy snorted. The 'law enforcement' in San Francisco was severely in the lack. They'd stolen the boat hours ago, and not one police officer had shown up at Alcatraz, even though they'd closed the prison tours early because of the theft of the boat. The whole prison, in fact, was totally empty.....

"Ugh, guys?" Buffy said. "Does it seem odd to anyone else that there are no cops around here?"

"Probably saw a donut shop somewhere near and....Now that you mention it, it is a bit odd." Spike said.

"Yeah, odd." Whistler repeated. Buffy, Spike and Whistler all had exactly the same thought at the same moment.

"Oh, no."

**********************

Giles made it to the door first, and saw that the lock on the gate had been broken. Obvious work of the Slayer. He felt a quick flash of pride. Joyce ended up beside him, followed closely by Xander, Cordelia, Oz and Willow.

"Where is Officer Bob?" Giles asked.

"Oh, he's bringing up the rear." Xander replied. "Those cops really aren't too strict on physical fitness, huh?" he said, smiling. Willow laughed a little in reply as Giles opened the grate with a creak.

"Hello?" the Watcher said into the darkness. Cordelia pulled out several flashlights from her oversized purse and handed them out. Joyce turned hers on and glanced behind them.

"Where is Officer Bob?" she asked. Giles turned at the question, and everyone else did the same. In fact, they were so focused in trying to distinguish the rather portly figure of Officer Bob from the mists of the waters around Alcatraz Island that they didn't turn back around quite soon enough.

"Ugh, what is that foul smell?" Oz asked, wrinkiling his nose in disgust. Joyce and Cordelia held their hands over their noses, while Giles pulled a hankercheif from his pocket and placed it over his own nostrils. Willow continued shining her flashlight beam around the water's edge. She hadn't been smelling much of anything since that bookcase fell on her.

"I still can't see Bob." she said, grey eyes wide with worry for the bumbiling policeman.

"Hey, that smell is really nasty! And it's getting worse...." Xander exclaimed. Struck with a sudden thought, he performed a quick sniff-test to his armpits. It wasn't him. "What IS that?"

"I expect it's dead fish, or some manner of chemical waste." Giles said, holding his flashlight higher. "No sign of the officer?"

Willow turned around to say something, and froze. "Uh, guys?" she said queitly, opening her mouth wide. Everyone looked at her, waiting. "RUN!!!" she yelled. Of course, Giles, Joyce, Xander, Oz and Cordy turned around. There, in front of the tourist entrance to Alcatraz Prison was the very decayed and rotting body of Officer Bob O'Bannion. The zomboid policeman stood there, grinning, the expression hideious, with his greenish face and blackened teeth. Cordelia screamed, and Bob smiled wider.

"Welcome to the Rock." he said as the Slayerettes scattered.

*********************************

"What was that?" Buffy asked. They'd only moved a few feet before her Slayer hearing had picked up something that sounded oddly like dripping water.

"Sounds like....gosh, I've heard it before..." Spike whispered, cold fingers of fear running up and down his spine.

"Let's....just keep moving." Buffy resolved, getting a little scared herself. Afterall, the old prision was way creepy, being dark and cold. Plus, Alcatraz was a place with a rather dark history....

"I remember now." Spike whispered, standing next to her.

Buffy sighed. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's the sound of rotting flesh. The music of the dammed." he replied. Buffy turned her flashlight beam on his face. He'd gone vamp.

"Spike..." Buffy said loudly, fearing he was turning on her.

"Shhh." he quieted her, motioning with his finger. Buffy whirled around, the flashlight beam floating through the dark halls. It travelled down a stone walkway, reaching a pair of shoes. The shoes were caked with mud and grime. Buffy directed the beam upwards, illuminating blue trousers faded to gray and spotted with dirt and what looked like bloodstains. When the light reached the face of the person, Buffy had to choke back a scream. The horrible rotten face, half of it eaten away and exposing bone and skull, grinned at her. The Slayer choked a little. She dropped the flashlight, and as she bent to pick it up, the zombie rushed towards her. Before Buffy could react, the thing was on top of her. The Slayer delivered a swift kick to the thing's groin. The zombie didn't even registure the kick. It's learing, rotted face drew closer, and Buffy caught a whiff of it's decayed breath.

"Hey, buddy, try a tic-tac!" she said as she swung her flashlight up and around like a baseball bat. It connected with the zombie's skull with a sickening crack. The thing's head flew off, shattering a window as it did so. Cold San Francisco wind blew into the room, tossing Buffy's hair and knotting it badly.

"Good job." Spike said, patting her on the back.

"Why didn't you help?" Buffy asked, dusting pieces of shrivelled, dead flesh off her arm.

"He looked a bit...yucky." Spike replied, moving off down the hall.

"Yucky?" Buffy repeated.

**************************

Xander and Cordelia grasped hands as they hid in the lighthouse on Alcatraz, shivering with fear and cold. They'd all been separated when Zombie Bob had appeared, but Xander had managed to grab Cordy's arm and directed her across the prison yard and inside the protection of the lighthouse structure.

"Xander?" Cordy whispered. "Do you think it'll find us in here?"

"I don't know. Zombie radar is a powerful thing." Xander replied in annoyance, trying to peek out the window and catch a glipse of the others, namely Willow and Giles.

"Xander?" Cordelia whispered again. Xander frowned, perturbed at his girlfriend's mindless questions.

"Yeah?" he asked sharpely.

"Do zombies really eat your brains?"

"This one might." he answered shortly, still trying to see out that window.

"Xander?" Cordy said again.

"WHAT?!!" Xander shouted, beyond annoyed.

"It found us." Cordelia replied, her voice tight with fear.

"Peekaboo." The chilling voice of the zombie touched a core of fear deep inside of Xander, and he turned, ready to fight. He lost his nerve as soon as he took in the full affect of strong odour and gastly visage of the zombie. This one was not Officer Bob. It was dressed in a very out-of-date prision uniform, black and white stripes. Only, the strips were yellowed with age, and the outfit hung in shreds off the zombie's skeletol limbs. Cordelia screamed.

Xander only stood before hidieous thing, unable to move. The zombie extended its hand, half the flesh of the fingers rotted and exposed. Maggots wiggled out the tips of the index finger, and Xander closed his eyes, prepared for a really horrific death. Instead, he heard a loud THWACK!!!, and the sound of bone crunching. Xander slowly opened his eyes. Cordy stood there, rusted monkey wrench in hand. The zombie's now-removed head took off rolling down the slopping floor of the diapidated lighthouse floor. Xander hugged his girlfriend, never more glad to be with Cordelia Chase.

*************************

Giles and Joyce had found a broken window and entered the prison. They paused there to catch their breath and look for some sign of Xander, Willow, Oz or Cordelia. Or the zombie.

"Do you do this sort of thing often?" Joyce asked him. Despite the fear and worry of the moment, Giles laughed.

"Only on the slow days." he replied, looking around. They had ended up in what appeared to be the infirmary. Old hospital beds were simply the outlines of shadows, white medicine cabinets standing out like becons in the dark room. Joyce turned on her flashlight.

"No, turn that off!" Giles said a bit more severely than he intended. Joyce did so immediately.

"Shh!" she said. Giles did so, and he soon heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He grabbed the flashlight from Joyce and pushed her behind him. Whatever was coming, he would protect Buffy's mother. The figure was a little closer, and he could make out the outline of a man among the other shadows of beds and cabinets. Giles walked a little closer to the man, trying to be very quiet. Finally, the man paused, and Giles saw his chance.

"Ahyaahhhhh!!!" he yelled in battlecry, launching himself at the figure. Just then, the lights in the infirmary came on, and Giles froze. It was a man, not a zombie. The man flinched, holding his hands up. This new person was dressed in a horrible shiny green shirt, black plether jacket, and black brim hat.

"Hey man, chill!" the person said with a heavy New York accent. He held still for a moment, then said, "Hey, you must be Buffy's Watcher, right?"

Giles blinked, then slowly lowered the flashlight. "Y-yes. Who are you?"

"They call me Whistler." the man replied.

CONTINUES