Heroes

[tangent]

Title: Heroes
Disclamer:I have no rights whatsoever on anything Joss & co came up with first.
Setting: Sunnydale, anytime after the series starts really.
Warning: Theres some violence in this one.

_____

So where do I start? I mean how far do you want me to go back? Do you want me to go all the way back to the party? Cos I can totally do that, I mean the gig was pretty rad I gotta tell ya. My buddy Gordo, he's, like, a freshman at Sunnydale U so he managed to get us in to his frat house and man I gotta tell ya those guys can seriously party. I'm talking beer, girls; the whole enchilada. There was this one girl and like, for her party piece she would?

Okay, okay I guess you don't really need to know about that. It was after that, that things really started to go down anyway. The party had like, totally wound down so we just decided to bail. There was only the three of us; me, and my buddies, Mikey and Sanderson, the three amigos, the biggest, baddest dudes' on the whole damn planet. We'd partied way hard and we were feeling pretty damn good about ourselves, maybe a little drunk, well for sure a little drunk, but still pretty damn good.

That was gonna change pretty quick.

We must've? I dunno, got a little turned around somewhere, probably Mikey and his crazy shortcuts, but whatever. All I remember is that we found ourselves down this little maze of side streets, which were like way spooky; all dark and empty ?cept for garbage cans and these totally evil smelling piles of junk.

So anyway Sanderson starts busting Mikey's chops for getting us lost and I just left them to it ?cos once those two get going you really don't want to get yourself involved, if you know what I mean. Sanderson always hated the fact that Mikey was better with the chicks, and once he got started on him he was like a freakin' dog with a bone. So I decided to just leave'em to it and went to the end of the alley figuring I'd have myself a little smokey till they were all shouted out. That's when I saw him.

The guy was big, and I mean biiiig, you know, like maybe 6'3 or 6'4 and easy 300 pounds plus. He had his back to me but you could tell he wasn't just fat. There was plenty of meat on those bones too and I remember thinking then that the guy had to be pretty damn strong.

None of that really mattered though cos of what the big lump was doing. There was like, this chick on the floor in front of him, looking like she was hardly breathing, and he was lowering himself down on to her like he was about to get his freak on or something. Now I aint no knight of the round table or nothing but this was like, totally wrong. My blood started to, you know; kinda boil a little, probably helped by the tequila that was still flowing through it. Anyway before I knew what I was doing I'd picked up an old tin can from this pile of garbage and I threw it at him, and I mean real hard. My aim must've been better than I thought as well cos the can like, totally hit him right on the side of his big fat head.

Now, as soon as the can hit him the guys head sorta slumped a little and at first I thought I might have done some real damage to the guy, in fact I thought I saw this little stream of blood or something start to drip off his greasy hair and I started to think about how many sharp edges that can must have had. As it turned out though, I was totally wrong. The big guy just shook his head, making his hair sorta fly out and then he threw his head back and roared, I mean really roared, just like a lion or something. Then he got to his feet, all slow and deliberate, and it was like watching a mountain unfolding in front of me.

For a moment he just stood there like he was making some kind of a decision or something and it was like everything went still, like everyone was waiting for something to happen. Then he turned towards me, but like really quickly, way quicker than a guy that size should be able to move and he looked straight at me. That wasn't what scared me though. What scared me was his face. The guy was like disfigured or something, like he'd been in some kinda weird accident or something, only, you know, not.

I must been just stood there, out in the open, just staring at the guy cos he sure as hell saw me. He looked at me and then back down at the girl and then he looks back up and the dude actually growls at me! It kinda reminded me of the time mom took us to the zoo and we saw the big cats getting fed. They were all so big and powerful and snarly and kinda hungry looking. You ever see something like that? Well that's what this guy was like. I tried to run then, tried to tear my eyes away from that face, but it was like I was hypnotized or something. My legs felt all heavy, like they were trapped in cement. All I could do was just stand there and look at him.

Now the guy started to move towards me, not quick but sorta? purposeful, you know. He kept getting closer and closer; until I could see the little red stains on his white t-shirt and the way his eyes looked kinda yellow, until I could hear the swish of his lumberjack shirt as his arms brushed his gut and the quiet little snarling noises the guy was making in the back of his throat.

Right then I was sure I was a dead man. I mean the guy was, like, some kind of freak and he had me cold, I couldn't move a muscle. He could have ripped me apart, right where I stood, torn me to pieces before I could say boo.

He can't have been more than a few feet from me when I felt the hands closing around me, dragging me backwards, put of the reach of his big reaching hands. I looked behind me and saw it was the guys who had got me out of there; just in the nick of time as well. I'd never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life I can tell ya. Mikey was looking at me real funny, probably freaked by how pale I must have been and I think he was about to say something but Sanderson was looking past me, back at the thing in the alley and he got there first.

"Whoa! What the hell is that?" He said pointing at the hulking shape, which was still making its way towards us, still not rushing. Mikey looked up then and his eyes nearly popped clean out of his head, I mean they really bulged man, you know, like in a cartoon or something. Any other time that would have creased me up but just then I think we were all way too scared to see the funny in much of anything.

We looked at each other and our expressions must have been like mirrors cos without another word all three of us just turned tail and ran out of there, heading back the way we'd come as fast as we could. We must have run near half way back to the university before I finally realised that the scary dude wasn't following us anymore. I hollered out for the guys to stop and we just about half collapsed against the wall of the alley we were in, trying to catch our breaths.

Mikey looked up at me from where he stood with his hands on his knees panting like a thirsty dog "have we lost it" he said, or, you know, words to that effect. Sanderson looks behind us, squinting into the dark and says something like "think so." I just stood with my back against the brick not believing how close I?d been to that fat psycho, what a close shave I'd really had.

I think it was then that I realised that we had to go back.

[tangent]

_____

I told the guys about the chick the big guy had got down on the ground, how she had been all unconscious and helpless. My guess was that if the freak had lost interest in us then he was gonna be heading back, looking for a softer target, one that maybe wasn't so quick on its feet. Now like I said before me ?n' the boys', we aint no heroes but we all agreed that something had to be done and that we were the only ones who were about do it. By the time we got the cops out it would be too late for the chick and let's face it, Sunnydale cops, well they aint exactly the sharpest.

So it was gonna be down to us, but at least we had the numbers. There were three of us against one of him, and although he was probably as big as all three of us put together he didn't exactly look like the fastest guy in the world. The way I saw it if we hit him from all sides then we could get the girl and get out before he knew what hit him.

So we headed back as quick and quiet as we could, peering round every corner like frightened kids and before we knew it we were where we started, Mikey's spent cigarette butt still smoking on the floor and that same stinking garbage piled up in the corner.

We crept up to the angle of the alley quiet as we could, although my heart was, like, totally, pounding and I figured that just about everyone in town had to be to be able to hear it. But anyway we peered round the corner real carefully and sure enough there's the big guy, and I don't know how long it is since he managed to get back but he's just, like, stood over the girl, just stood there looking down at her like a father watching a sleeping child or something.

So Sanderson scoops up this old meat bone from the garbage and I figure that he's gonna try the same trick again. This time though either Sanderson must've made too much noise or the guy was ready for us because before he could raise his arm the big freaking animal snapped round with that same sudden speed and I remember then thinking that the guy might not be as slow as we'd first thought.

We were committed now though and there was no way we were gonna back down. So we fanned out, not giving the monster a single target to go for, making him play it our way. Mikey was on my left and Sanderson on the right; and me, I was right in front of him, staring him down, looking right into those yellow, big cat eyes.

The big guy was making that low growling sound again and his head moved side to side almost like one of those snakes you see on the wildlife channel, the ones that take on the mongooses. We stood like that for a while, watching each other real hard. Then Mikey feinted forward as if he was gonna make a dash past him and the guy moved to that side, looking to block him off. That was Sanderson's cue and as soon as he saw the guy move he dashed forward into the open pace. The guy was quick though, and not just quick, like, super quick or something and before any one could react he'd grabbed Sanderson and had him pushed hard up against the wall.

I'll never forget what happened next. The big freak had Sanderson pressed against the bricks, bunches of his shirt rapped in his hands, poking out from between his fat fingers. Then he threw back his head and opened his mouth, revealing these messed up teeth, all crooked and pointed and he roared again, that same lion like sound he'd made before, but this time there was like, this note of victory in it. Then his head came down and he was biting, biting into Sanderson's neck, tearing at his throat, and Sanderson was screaming and screaming. The sound went on for what felt like forever but it could only have been for a few seconds cos the guy lifted his head again pretty quick and as soon as he did that Sanderson just slumped to the ground and lay there, not moving at all.

There was, like this moment then of total stillness no-one moving, no-one making a sound. Mikey and me stunned by what we'd just seen. Then the guy, or thing, or I don't know, whatever he was, turned round real slow and I could see there was blood smeared round his mouth, a small trickle of it caught up in the hairs on his chin. Mikey must have seen the same thing because something sure snapped him out of it. He gave this yell that started real low but just kept getting louder and louder and as the volume went up his face twisted into, like, this snarl of pain and grief and anger and he just launched himself at the big guy, charging at him full tilt.

The guy was too quick again though. One huge arm shot out and before you could blink his massive pudgy fingers were round Mikey's neck. Mikey struggled hard, scratching and tearing at the guys arm, drawing blood and tearing skin. The big freak didn't pay him any mind though, just lifted him clean off the ground with that one chubby hand till Mikey's feet were kicking at air.

Then the guy turns his head and fixes me with this look that I'll see in my dreams for the rest of my life. He fingers squeeze slowly harder around Mikey's neck and Mikey screams, but it's a bubbly sound and his face is going redder and redder. Then I hear this totally sick sound, like a sharp snapping sound, and suddenly Mikey goes all still and limp in the guys hand.

That's when he started to come for me. He just tossed Mikey's body to one side and started towards me in that same unhurried way. I backed off and backed off, my brain just not able to take in any of what I'd just seen. I felt course brick behind me and this time there was no-one to drag me out of the way, no-one to save me at the last minute and I know I'm going to die. I feel myself slipping down the wall as my legs give way beneath me and all I can do is look up at the horror that's looming over me. He stops just short of me and he looks down and he smiles this evil smile, one that says that he knows he's got me where he wants me and he's gonna make me suffer to the last.

But then something changes. A strange look crosses the guys twisted face, a kind of puzzled look, like he can't work something out. I got no idea what happened next. One minute the guy's in front of me and I'm a dead man, the next he just, like, explodes or something! Not explodes like kaboom or anything, I mean there was just like this moment where he seems to... fly apart. Like he's turned to dust from the outside in but all in one go. There's this brief image of a skeleton that lasts for like half a second and then standing in his place is the chick, the one that had been lying in the floor, blood pouring from a cut under her blond hair and one arm held kinda funny. Her other arm was, like, thrust out in front of her and there was this sharpened piece of wood in it.

I think that might be when I passed out.

So that's the story anyway and if you think I'm crazy I really don't blame you.

All I hope is that the little lady's gonna be okay. The way I figure it, the fuss your all making she's gotta be something special. She'd pretty much have to be to take on a beast like that on her own and come through. That monster went through two guys like they weren't there, two of the best guys I ever met, guys who were like brothers to me.

It hurts, you know, hurts worse than I can tell. Nothing can bring them back, I know that, and in a way I feel like I should n't be here now, like I should be with them. The way I see it though they gave their lives to try and help someone and, well, that's gotta be worth something, right? I mean if that chick can stop other things like that from hurting people, if she can help others the way we she helped me, the way we tried to help her, then maybe, just maybe, their deaths might mean something.

The guy who'd called himself Xander smiled down into his moist, pleading eyes and placed a hand on his slumped shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.

"You can count on it."