My Destiny is You

Ch. 7 ~ Clem's Story

As Clem's name came out of the speaker phone, Buffy jumped up and ran out the door. Angel followed her as they ascended the stairs and she ran to a panel by the front door as Angel tried to avoid the sunnier spots in the house by standing behind the stairs. Buffy opened the panel and Angel saw a bunch of color coded buttons. She pressed the yellow one as a mellow siren started sounding around the base and Angel watched from his vantage point as slayers and doctors exited their homes and ran toward the hospital. As Buffy watched the organized chaos, she turned to explain the panel to Angel.

"The colors on the buttons represent the urgency of the situation with yellow being 3rd from the most severe and is usually pressed during a medical emergency. Orange means there's a possible threat of attack and red is well.....self-explanatory."

"Basically when the shit hits the fan." Angel finished for her as she nodded. Just then Willow came in with some kind of tech gizmo in her hand.

"I've been tracking Connor's ETA and he is still an hour away so we should go prepare the doctors for.....who's he coming with?" Willow asked after a momentary pause.

"A very injured Clem." Buffy replied grimly to Willow's look of shock.

"Oh no! I'll go and tell the doctors ASAP." She said before running from the house and nearly colliding with Fred.

"Hey Buffy, Angel...what's going on?" Fred asked as she entered the house.

"Follow me and I will catch everyone up."

Buffy said; then she turned to Angel and told him to use the tunnels to head to the hospital as she and Fred stepped into the sunlight where everyone was waiting. Buffy gave a succinct explanation of what was happening and where she wanted everyone. The head two doctors quickly ran to the hospital to prepare for an injured demon. They've never treated one before so Willow's magic and Wesley's expertise would all come in handy. Angel had made it to the hospital by then to be met by Spike who had heard the news and looked grim. After all, he and Clem were close in Sunnydale so to hear a pal of his hurt badly wasn't a laughing matter.

Just as the sun set, everyone saw a car driving toward the entrance of SunStorm. People got ready. The slayers were told to hold guard posts just in case. They were safe but Buffy liked to have some form of protocol. Faith stood right near Buffy frowning, with her arms crossed but her eyes peeled. She'd never met Clem but Buffy had filled her in about how sweet and helpful Clem was back in Sunnydale. As Faith said:

"Any ally or friend of yours is cool with me."

Finally a white sedan drove through the front gate; slowing down as it entered the base. Connor was behind the wheel and obviously by the fact that his eyes were the size of saucers, he had no idea where to go. Faith walked up to the car window then and said:

"Hey, so just follow the path and the hospital is on the far right after the library. Park in front and the doctors will do the rest. Just don't run anyone over."

Connor nodded and proceeded cautiously as he was instructed and parked in front of the hospital. The doctors were waiting with a gurney and rushed to the car as soon as it came to a stop. Suddenly there was a shriek as everyone turned to see Dawn run out of the library; horror on her face. She bolted to Clem's side as the doctors tried to slowly get him out of the car. He was bleeding and beaten to a bloody pulp. Dawn nonchalantly shoved one of the doctors away and got on Clem's one side as she and Connor and another doctor got Clem toward the gurney. Connor was very curious as to who this girl was. Dawn meanwhile, didn't care about Connor or anyone else. She was primarily concentrating on Clem whose one eye was swollen shut. The other eye focused on Dawn and he attempted a grim smile as he coughed up some blood and they leaned him forward so he could clear his mouth of the caked blood. Finally he whispered hoarsely: