3.5 Forest of the Dead
Quotes
Gabe: "And then there were the voices in your head. Which kinda weirded me out. Well, until I had voices of my own, and then it didn't seem so strange, but by then, it was pretty much over ..."
Will: "For his sake, I hope its just a drunken frat boy ..."
Deaver: "Don't let them bite you, I think..."
PeanutGalleryRive: "I need more training! Deaver, you suck."
Stefan [as Rive misses AGAIN]: "This is new on patrol. Now I've got my own cheerleader.."
(pause)
Will: "So there hasn't been any word from Raveena?"
PeanutGalleryDeaver: "I am SO going to lose my job."
Will: "How do you like them apples?!"
PeanutGalleryChase: "Yawn. Are we still fighting zombies?"
Chase: "She's not just 'a witch'. She's my roommate."
Deaver: "Hey guys, they've one-upped us. They've got an avalanche."
Will [gestures to the walking dead]: "Um, zombies?"
Chase: "Geoff, do you do zombies? (pause) Ew. That is SO not what I meant."
Stefan: "You know if this was a Michael Jackson video, all we would need to do to control the zombies would be to dance in front of them."
Will: "Just think of them as a very, very aggressive Center for Disease Control."
Will: "Gabe, it's best not to be surly with guys who have machine guns and black helicopters."
Deaver [to the military type guys]: "Are my taxes going to go up?"
Summary
Friday morning, Chase stands on the walkway in front of Geoff's house. She steps up on to the porch, takes a deep breath, and knocks. Geoff opens the door, smiles at her and gestures her inside. "Thanks for driving." He heads back to the bedroom to grab his suitcase. She sneaks a look around the living room, taking in what's changed and what hasn't since she moved out. The air in the room is a little tense, as Geoff returns with his bag, which has ID tags for a medical conference this weekend, and a (locked) box of her things. He reminds her that Freddie wanted to say hello, and gives a shout out to his resident poltergeist.
The air around Chase changes, and she knows Freddie is nearby. Before she "sees" him, however, Geoff calls out a sharp, "Freddie, NO!" and Chase spins to see him wrestling the air for a silver candlestick that had been aimed directly at her head.
They leave pretty quickly after that, loading Geoff's luggage into the back of the Jeep for what looks like a long, tense, and icy drive to Portland ...
* * *
Gabe rests against a tree on campus, watching the world pass on a chilly Saturday afternoon. In the shadow of a nearby building, he spies Jade, who is idly floating a few objects in front of her and looks lost in thought. He approaches her, and notices that she's not wearing her DoH pendant that she was given at initiation. She smiles a little sadly, and tells him that she's recently been struggling with the power structure in the DoH and is thinking about leaving the coven. She's a little down, and starts quizzing Gabe about his decisions to leave the group. Gabe tries, inarticulately, to explain why he had left DoH, and Jade along with it. His stammering explanation includes mention of Zolor, and she has no idea what he's talking about. They decide lunch is in order while he goes into details ...
* * *
Rachel wanders through the tall and beautiful snow-covered fir trees in the woods outside of McKennit. [barrier notes here]
* * *
Chase and Geoff are pointed back from the conference, and the mood is relaxed and lively as they both wail (badly) along with the radio, laughing at pretty much everything and talking a lot. Despite the noise, Chase catches a low rumble and a motion out of the corner of her eye, and slams on the breaks. She skids to a stop as a tumble of rocks and snow lands on the road in front of them. The avalanche of snow spews out over the boulders and covers them, along with the entire front of the car. After a shaky breath, the two of them get out of the vehicle to take a better look at the situation.
From the other side of the snowdrift, Chase hears a low growl, a muffled thwump, and a shout of surprise from Geoff. Scooting around the back of the car, she finds him deadlocked on the ground with a Windego. She tries to pry it off of him with little success, jumps on the critter's back, and starts trying to break its neck instead. Between them they manage it, and the Windego bursts into cold blue flame and evaporates. Chase lands hard on top of Geoff as a result. There's an awkward and slightly breathless moment before she remembers to roll off of him. There are a few more such moments as he helps her up, and they skid around checking out the car on the icy roadside. Finally, Geoff pulls out his phone and waves it at Chase as the pair gets back in the car.
* * *
The attic of the Boyd-Townsend manor is barely recognizable, as Dr. Deaver and Rive have overhauled it to use as their new training room. And, not surprisingly, Rive is training. As they finish up, Stefan arrives to pick up the slayer for their nightly patrol. Deaver volunteers to accompany them, and they agree, somewhat surprised. In the fading light, his face is lit by the glow of his PDA and he furiously taps and fiddles while the two demon hunters make their rounds. The trio finds Will on patrol as well, of the campus security variety, and they join forces as they walk through the quiet campus.
On the fringes of the college, where the forest trees crowd the buildings, the group spies what looks like a drunken figure emerging from the woods. Shining a flashlight in its direction, they see a few more figures emerge, and Will calls out to them. They don't respond except for a chorus of low moans as they fixate on the patrol squad and continue their approach. As they get closer the crew realizes that these aren't drunk frat boys. They're zombies.
A crazy (and creative) fight ensues, and the scoobies discover that completely doing in a zombie means attacking the head - anything else just slows it down. As the gang laboriously destroys the last of them, the look up to see another wave of undead shambling out of the trees ...
* * *
Geoff and Chase are snuggled up in the back seat of the now foggy-windowed Jeep, clothing strewn everywhere. They never, um, quite got around to placing that phone call.
The moment is interrupted as Chase hears a sudden noise outside. It is quickly followed by something hitting the top of the vehicle, hard. Peeking out the window to see what's happening outside, they come face to face with a ... zombie! The couple springs into action, vaulting into the front seat as the zombie smashes a hand through the back seat window, grabbing at their ankles. An attempt to turn on the car yields no results as the zombies continue to attack the driver side of the vehicle, rocking it and pounding on the windows. More glass shatters and Geoff and Chase spill out of the passenger door and head for the trees at a full sprint.
They spy lights ahead in the distance, and are thrilled to discover it is a cabin. They skid to a stop at the door and bang on it, turning around to see that the zombies are following them slowly, steadily. The door is opened by a huge man with an equally huge shotgun. He points it in their direction, fires ... and hits the closes zombie square in the forehead. He tells them to come in, and they gratefully follow him in to the warmly-lit interior.
Much to Chase and Geoff's surprise, Rachel is also inside by the fireplace, shivering and talking to herself. She has the spacey look that follows one of her magical episodes. Chase immediately runs over to her and tries to get her to tell her what happened, while the unflappable woodsman offers to get the pair some clothes. While he disappears into the loft, Geoff borrows Rachel's phone to call Stefan.
* * *
The scoobies soldier on against the second wave of undead ickies on the edge of campus. Stefan's phone rings. It's Geoff. Stefan manages to keep up his end of the conversation, all the while dispatching zombies. The guys update each other on their ghoulish woes. When Stefan learns that Rachel is there and not doing too well, he immediately puts the gang in gear. They clean up the last of the zombies, and plans are made to fetch their stranded friends. Geoff gives them basic directions to the cabin in the woods.
* * *
Rachel leaves her spot by the fire and moves trancelike to the window, muttering something about this being "her fault". Chase goes to her side and notices that the zombies, upon seeing Rachel, start heading straight for the cabin - and her window in particular. She hauls the girl back from the opening. Geoff looks out on the approaching zombie horde from another window, but they pay him no mind - they're fixated on the place they last saw Rachel.
Chase takes Rachel upstairs to Eric's (the lumberjack) bedroom. Upon brusque questioning, Rachel tearfully admits that she thinks that she made these zombies, but she has no idea how or exactly what happened. She explains that she found the protective barrier they erected with Bannon's help last year, and that she had one of her ... things ... and then there were these ... zombies. Eric found her and saved her from them, bringing her back to his cabin while holding the undead at bay with his shotgun. The girls try to come up with theories on Rachel's relationship with the walking dead as Chase raids Eric's gun closet. Handing a shotgun to Geoff and getting Rachel to rest on the bed, Chase gives Geoff a short lesson on firearms before opening the window and taking aim at the huge horde of creatures pressing in on the cabin.
* * *
The Hondaful of scoobies is tense as Deaver races down the darkened road out of town, following Geoff's directions. During the drive, A grim-faced Will picks up his phone and makes a cryptic call, spouting what sounds like a terse series of codes. He hangs up and refuses to answer any questions. They find the avalanche and turn the car off the road towards the cabin, but quickly realize that they can't possibly offroad it. They get out and make for the glowing lights of the cabin. They arrive in time to see Chase peg a zombie cleanly in the head from the second story with a double-barreled shotgun. (Wha ...???)
The cavalry joins the fray, and fight their way to the cabin. Will holds the back door and Rive the front while the others join Rachel, Chase, Geoff (both wearing the latest in lumberjack chic), and Eric in the loft. Stefan immediately goes to Rachel and tries to calm her down. She works hard at avoiding telling anyone that the zombies are probably her fault. After he goes back downstairs to help Will and Rive hold the ground floor. Still black-eyed with magic, she walks over to Gabe, who is trying to fling mojo at the sea of zombies beneath them, and takes his hand. Suddenly, Gabe's shooting lightning bolts at the bad guys with NO idea how he's doing it.
The fighting goes on and on, with no end to the zombies in sight. Rive, Will, and Stefan eventually fall back to the upstairs loft, and struggle to bar the door behind them. Chase and Eric continue to resolutely fire on the sea of zombies surrounding the cabin (Geoff's been relegated to loading duty), but the need for precise aim is keeping them from being very effective.
Just when it looks like things might be over, the scoobies hear the sound of helicopters above them. Bullets rain from the heavens, mowing down huge swaths of zombies. The marksmen are exceptionally accurate, and unfailingly hit the zombies square on their decomposing noggins. The group then hears a soft thud on the roof - something has landed there. Outside, a black helicopter lands in front of the cabin, and black-clad, armed figures emerge and make their way in to the cabin. The crew waits, scared, with only Will seeming relatively unconcerned. The storm of ammunition outside continues, though some of the din of helicopters fades away as the choppers start sweeping patterns over the dark trees.
The SWAT-looking guys answer very few questions, and even the ones they do are answered cryptically. They reassure the scoobies that they'll take care of the "infestation". Rachel is much calmer now, but even so, she turns to one of the black-clad figures and has a (seemingly) one sided conversation with him, telling him vehemently not to call her, that she won't tell them anything, and to leave her alone. She trips out a few of the other commandos by asking strangely intense questions about them and their families, citing personal information about them she couldn't possibly know.
The commandos arrange an escort back to Philippi for the scoobies. Once they arrive on campus, Rachel tells a solicitous Stefan that she needs noise and people, so they head for Lone Star, and everyone follows suit. Geoff and Chase each take detours to change before joining the others. There are a few comments about their matching duds, but everyone strangely believes Rachel when she tells them, glassy-eyed, that it's the latest fashion in Portland ...
At the bar, Deaver and Stefan grill Will about the suspected connection between his cryptic phone call and the black-clad commandos. Will mumbles something about calling in a favor, offers to buy the next round, and handily changes the subject.
Chase sits at the bar chatting with Shannon, but their easy talk stops abruptly when Simone walks in. She strides up to the bar and orders a couple of drinks. She informs Chase she needs to talk to her. Now. Shannon scoots, and Simone sits, passing Chase a beer. She tells the little blonde to stay the hell away from Geoff. It is followed by a lot of "I know him better than you" talk, which includes a flat denial from Chase when Simone implies that she KNOWS something happened between her and Geoff at the conference. About that time, the guy in question arrives on the scene. Geoff sees the two women facing off and worriedly approaches. Simone turns to him with a tight smile and asks him to dance, and he resignedly escorts her to the floor, giving Chase a quick apologetic look for whatever just happened. Chase watches them go and grimly pounds the rest of her drink.
Rachel sits quietly with Gabe, talking about what's been happening to her since he saved her life, which is something she's never really thanked him for. But she is scared by the results of his actions, and wants his help to try to understand what is happening, and to learn how to have some control her new powers if possible. He readily agrees to help, and they chat until Stefan comes to whisk her out on to the dance floor.