Sister, Sister (Book Five, BTVS)

chapter 20 - Spiral

"We can't fight her," Buffy told us. 

"Well, not yet, no," Giles agreed.

"No, not ever," Buffy told him. "She's too strong, Giles. We're not gonna win this with stakes or spells or pulling out some Uranium power core. She's a god, and she's coming for us, so let's just not be here when she starts knocking."

"Run away?" Anya asked. "Finally, a sensible plan."

"That's not what she meant," Xander told her. He looked at Buffy. "Is it?"

"We can't stay here," Buffy told us. "She'll just kill us off one by one until there's no one left standing between her and Dawn."

"Buffy, we all understand the severity of the situation, but there must be another--" Giles started.

"No," Buffy told us. "Stay, we die. Show of hands for that option." No one said or did anything. "All right. Nobody goes home. Nobody tells anybody we're leaving. Just pack up whatever supplies we need, and that's it. We're gone."

"Cool," Dawn told us. "Don't have to study for that Geometry test."

"What about wheels?" Xander asked. "I don't think everybody's gonna fit in the Xandermobile."

I thought for a moment. "Just gather your stuff. We'll handle the rest."

I looked out of the window.

      •••••       

I got Spike to let us use his RV that could fit everyone.

Dawn, Mom and I were in the RV as Spike drove up to the street where the gang was waiting.

The windshield was made to where the sunlight wasn't allowed in.

Spike opened the door.

The gang walked in, most of them sitting around the table that Mom, Dawn and I were sitting around.

Giles looked at Spike. 'What's he doing here?"

"Just out for a jaunt," Spike told us. "Thought I'd swing by and say howdy."

"Out," Giles told him.

"He's here because we need him," I told them.

"The hell we do," Buffy told me.

"Buffy, if Glory finds us, he's the only one besides you and me that has any chance of protecting Dawn," I told her.

"Zoey, come on," Xander told me.

I gave them a look. "Look, this isn't a discussion. He stays. Get over it."

Spike smiled smugly. "Buckle up, kids. Daddy's putting the hammer down."

Spike drove us away.

      •••••       

Giles was driving us in the middle of nowhere, very slowly.

Buffy was sitting up there with him in the passenger seat.

The rest of us were in the main part of the RV.

I was looking at a map intensely.

Willow was looking through a spell book. 

Anya looked at Dawn. "Shouldn't somebody be asking, 'Are we there yet?' Isn't that what small, irritating children do?"

"That kinda only works if you know where you're going," Dawn told her.