My Destiny is You

Ch. 3 ~ Home Base

With the sun setting behind the buildings, it was time to leave. The bus was a few streets down. Buffy was ready to get their wounded and head back to home base. She started to gather the supplies along with those who were mobile. Gunn helped out as did Illyria who didn't feel she could do much else at that point. Spike looked at Angel for a long moment before Angel addressed Buffy:

"Listen Buffy; Spike, the others and I have left some stuff in my old car. It's the only piece of property that didn't belong to W&H. Is it possible for us to drive the car behind the bus? Besides, I doubt your bus has specially tinted windows for vampires."

"Sure, go get your car. No the bus doesn't have the tinted windows but the drive from here to the base is about an hour. Bring the car around here and you can follow us to it and we can go from there."

"Wes, you better bring Fred to the bus with us, she'll have more room there to get comfortable and we have a medical station set up in the back." Faith added as Wes nodded and scooped a shivering Fred into his arms.

They were ready to go. Angel and Spike left to get the car which was parked and undamaged where he had left it with all of their things still in the trunk and back seat. Angel with Spike drove to where the warehouse was and the others were trickling out, Faith led them to the bus. The vamps were surprised by the sophistication of this bus. It was an all-black coach; it was very inconspicuous in the night. As Buffy unlocked it and everyone was loaded onto it, she and Faith opened the under carriage compartments where they kept their weapons mostly and a change of clothing. Faith gestured to Angel and Spike that there was room under there for their things so they unloaded the backseat. Gunn opted to go in Angel's car as did Illyria. Meanwhile, Fred and Wes were getting situated in the back of the bus with the help of Dawn and Willow.

There were 3 medical cots back there and a few seats that turned into cots for the most critically injured. The first aid kits they had there were also broken out. Tara tended to the wounded with Willow. Wes never left Fred's side. Dawn turned on a small portable heater in the back as Fred was still shivering. Thankfully, slayers healed quickly so it was really only Fred that was the priority for the women. A slayer named Katrina was the main driver of the coach so she took to the steering wheel and with a nod from Buffy, started up the bus, and after the doors were closed and everyone was more or less seated, took off with Angel's car right behind in a caravan of sorts.

Just as Buffy had predicted, it took one hour before they pulled up to the base. The whole base was outlined with stones, from their angle it looked like a cross between a military base and a Native American reservation, both vehicles drove through the entrance and for a ways around a paved road as the Angel gang looked around them. There were houses, what looked like a library, lots of trees, vehicles, a store, and what looked like a hospital which was where the bus pulled up to. Several women and men exited the building with gurneys and started to unload the wounded. Fred was placed on one of those gurneys and wheeled in with Wes right beside her.

Everyone else exited the bus and got their stuff and started to scatter save for Buffy and Faith who knew that the newcomers were in need of a serious explanation. Once it was emptied, Katrina drove it to its parking space on the far side of the base.

"Where do I start?" Buffy said while stretching her arms out and cracking her neck.

"Anywhere, would be nice. For starters, what is this place? How do you pay for all of this?" Angel asked as the 4 of them walked down a path between trees.

"This is or was an old military base that we were given by a private sector of the military. I'm sure Spike remembers the Initiative." After Spike's grunt, she continued:

"Well they figured out pretty quickly they couldn't deal with the supernatural so they gave us two bases in the U.S. This is the main one and the one Faith and Robin run in Boston is the second one. Other governments in other countries are also working underground with slayers. They don't meddle in our business; they just basically pay for room, board, the bases, food, and supplies."