𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄 ♢ Apocalypse AU

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

"Don't move, or I'll slaughter your friend in cold blood."

We all froze. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I thought it would burst. I couldn't afford to lose anyone. I couldn't bear to be alone again. The figure holding Xander at knife point was shrouded in shadow, so I couldn't see who it was. All that was visible was bejewelled fingers and a bandaged forearm.

Xander's eyes widened for a moment, before he scrunched them shut and clamped his teeth down onto the person's hand as hard as he could. The person screamed, pulling away into the darkness as little droplets of blood fell onto the floor.

"YOU BITCH! YOU RIPPED A CHUNK OF SKIN OUT!" The person screeched, venom lacing their words. I heard shuffling, and before I knew it the person leapt out at Xander, punching him square in the nose. Blood squired, and he fell to the ground, clutching his face in pain as his attacker clutched their hand.

I could see it properly now. It had a ridiculous amount of jewellery on, but not the flashy kind. It was all plain necklaces, simple bracelets and lots of simple rings, one of which in the shape of a claw on it's pointer finger. It's hair was a dusty brown, half of it shaved, the other short and wild. It's green eyes were wide and manic, rage contorting it's scarred features.

Xander rose to his feet, grabbing his crowbar. The other person stood like a boxer, its fists in front of its face. It was strange to see someone without a weapon in combat, but the thought was quickly abandoned as Xander took a swing at them, his weapon sailing barely above it's head as it ducked out the way.

It jabbed at him, once, twice, thrice, it's fist connecting with his jaw, but pulling away before it could properly do any damage. It still hurt though, as evident in Xander's cry of pain. He swung again, this time going low and the crowbar smacked into the stranger's ankle. It screamed, recoiling before feigning a punch to the nose while it's other fist crunched into the bottom of Xander's chin.

Blood spurting from both wounds, the two separated, eyeing each other with murderous intent before Ghost stepped in, pulling Xander away. The person took a roll of bandages from it's pocket and bent down, rolling it around their injured ankle, not taking it's eyes off of us for a second.

Xander did the same as Ghost took a cloth out of his pocket and pressed it against his injured friend's chin. As he did so, he turned to glare at the stranger, practically spitting out his words. "After all this fucking time, you decide that's the best way to greet us. Hello to you too, then."

It just scrunched it's nose up at those words. "After London, I don't think you deserve a very warm welcome."

Ghost scoffed in response, and Xander let out a low growl. "You know we were just doing it to help you- you know what, piss off. I don't want to talk about this now." A laugh was all he got in response, but it wasn't one of joy. It was laced with venom, and a dark undertone.

"I don't care what you want anymore, understand? I'm not bending over backwards anymore."

I was confused. What were they talking about? I was about to express this vocally, but I was cut off by Xander. He rose to his feet, cloth still pressed against where he was punched.

"I don't want to talk to you anyway, you bitch," He said with a steel glare, before turning on his heel to walk away, "I'm trying to survive, not argue over the past."

Ghost and I got up to follow him, leaving the brunette behind. It was wiping blood of it's rings as it watched us leave, it's stare lingering long after we left. I waited a solid few minutes until I spoke up about the interaction.

"Who was that?"

Ghost turned to me, stunned. "What do you mean?! It's Tanith- remember? Did you hit your head or something? Good god Merlin."

I squinted for a moment, before nodding my head. Ghost rolled his eyes, and just before he could continue Xander stopped in front of us, causing me to bump into him.

"Why did you stop?"

He frowned, turning to face us. "It's too dark down there, and we don't have a light."

"Well," Ghost started, "shouldn't we go down there anyway? We have weapons, and we need to keep moving or we'll be found and killed."

Silence fell over us as we considered our options. I didn't want to go into the pitch black, because I knew I would fall over at least once, and I might start hallucinating, just like I did back then. I didn't want to relive that. Not to mention how many monsters could be down there.

However, if we turned back we could be mauled to death, or get into another fight with Tanith. I didn't want either to happen. I sucked a breath in through my teeth, but before I could voice my opinion, I was cut off.

"We should move on. We can't sit around like ducks."

Xander's tone was so authoritative and harsh, I didn't want to argue. He was clearly a lot more tense since the previous interaction he'd had, and I didn't blame him. So, I hauled the strap of my back over my shoulder properly again and marched into the darkness, trying not to let my fear show.

The others followed quickly, and we walked in silence. The only sound was the faint splash of the water as we waded through it. We had to walk across the rails, so the water was very high here. It reached my waist. 

We walked like this for about 5 minutes, until I heard a low growl. I chose to ignore it, as it seemed no one else heard it. I thought it was another hallucination, until a grotesque jawless face emerged from the shadow, it's hot breath rolling out of the gaping hole where it's mouth would have been.

It raised a rotting hand. It was missing some nails. It's fingers were caked in blood. I screamed, and I heard the others jump around me. But, just as it was about to scratch my face into a mangled mess, a bright red light engulfed me.