Chapter 1

Castiel wasn't entirely sure why he'd decided to go on the raid in the first place, maybe it was to prove something to Dean and show that he wasn't a 'useless hippie' as he'd been called in a fit of rage from the fearless leader. He knew Dean had a lot on his shoulders but the words had still hurt Castiel, sure, he buried himself beneath whisky, drugs and women but he only did it to try and get by without going completely crazy in this place.

Castiel had been wandering about the camp aimlessly, his hands shoved into his pockets as he dragged his feet along the graveled paths. As he was walking he spotted the convoy of trucks as they were on their way out of the camp and after a quick internal argument he was taking off toward's them at full speed. "Hey Chuck" he said slightly breathlessly as he caught up to them and jumped up onto the back of the last one. Moving to sit beside his friend and offering him a small smile as he settled in, "So, where are we heading?" he asked the ex-prophet. Chuck had lost his gift when the angels had left, which made sense seeing as it was from them after all, he was surprised that Chuck had taken it so well actually, when he had realised he'd lost his grace he hadn't spoken to anyone for weeks.

Chuck looked up from his map and notes with a slightly dazed look, staring at Castiel like a deer caught in the headlights before his brow furrowed slightly, "You're not supposed to be on this raid Castiel, what are you doing?" he questioned knowing that Dean would kill him if something happened to the fallen angel.

"Don't worry about it, I have his express permission, scouts honour" Castiel promised, holding up his three fingers in a mock gesture of honesty despite the lie, knowing Dean would never let him go on a raid without him being there. He'd picked up on a few of the human gestures whilst he'd been around, the movements were still quite awkward but they were getting better as time progressed. "I asked him and he said it was alright" he continued to add in the hopes of convincing Chuck.

Chuck looked at Castiel for a second, frowning slightly as he squinted at him, only half believing it but they were already on their way out and they'd scoped out the area the night before and it had seemed alright so he figured Castiel would be safe enough. "If you say so" he murmured softly, drawing the words out as he watched Castiel for a moment longer before looking back down at his notes to study the layout of the building they were going to search.

The drive took an hour and a half but they finally reached the house. A few of the men had been searching the neighborhood a few days ago and they had fallen across a still fully stocked basement behind a locked door, no sign of an owner. The men slowly got out of the truck, guns held stiffly in their arms as they looked around. Zach was first to enter the house, closely followed by Chuck who was in charge of organising the findings, note book in hand as they entered.

They first scoped out the house to make sure it was empty before heading down to the basement. Castiel was following Chuck while five of the men remained outside at the ready, a man left in each of the drivers seat as well in case they had to make a quick get away.

As they walked in Zach flicked the light switch, the fluorescent bulb casting an eerie glow across the room, the corners still shrouded in darkness where the light didn't quite reach. The light however did reveal rows upon rows of tinned food and in the corner, much to Chuck's delight, was a tower of toilet rolls, balancing precariously one on top of the other. Daniel walked in behind Castiel, eyeing the goods wearily as he walked over and picked up a tin, turning it over in his hands, "This doesn't seem a bit off to you? All of this food, there's got to be something wrong with it" he said quietly as he looked over at Chuck questioningly.

Chuck lifted his shoulders in a small shrug, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" he stated as he looked over what their was. "Right, Zach, go and get some of the other men and start loading things onto the trucks" he ordered, watching as he left before beginning to tick of what they'd found on his checklist.

Everything was going well, they'd gotten most of the food onto the trucks and Castiel was carrying one of the last boxes up. Most of the men were now smiling and joking with each other. The mood having considerably lightened at having found enough food to last the camp a few weeks if rationed correctly. For this reason they failed to notice the demon until it was somehow right in front of Castiel, seemingly have appeared out of nowhere. Castiel stumbled back startled, his mouth already opening to yell for the others but all that left his lips were a cry of pain as the demon pulled out a blade and quickly slid it fully into the fallen angel's shoulder. It sneered as it pulled back its arm to repeat the action, this time aiming for somewhere more vital when it suddenly dropped to the ground, Zach standing behind it holding a now bloodied knife, his expression slowly losing the humor as he looked at Castiel's shoulder.

The box in Castiel's arms dropped to the ground heavily as the blood from his shoulder began spreading across his chest and soaking his shirt. He stood there for a moment, his breathing coming in short gasps before he pitched forward, only just stopping from hitting the floor as Zach managed to catch him, "Shit" he mumbled as he picked Castiel up. He quickly called the men into action as he lay the ex-angel across the back of one of the seats, glancing around and seeing more demons appearing from the houses and back streets, yelling for Chuck to get over here. A few seconds later Chuck was sitting with Castiel's head in his lap as he pressed down on the wound with one of the mens jackets, the blood quickly soaking it as the fallen angel fell in and out of consciousness.

"Dean's going to kill us isn't he?" Zach said from the front seat as he sped off back to camp, leaving the rest of the men to follow behind them. Although the journey there took an hour and a half the drive back only took 20 minutes what with Zach's reckless driving. Chuck continued to look over Castiel worriedly, not liking how the colour was slowly fading from his skin as he lay there.

"He's most likely going to kill us" Chuck agreed, swallowing thickly before breathing a sigh of relief as the camp came into sight, "You take him in, go straight to Jenn, she's the best nurse we've got. It doesn't matter if she's busy, if Castiel dies we're all dead" he continued sharply as they pulled up outside of the medical cabin. Zach quickly got out, carefully taking Castiel into his arms before carrying him through the doors.

Jenn looked up as the door was burst open, "Oh no" she whispered when she realised who was in Zach's arms, not particularly liking the amount of blood covering the fallen angel's chest, "Set him down here" she said as she pointed over to the cot. Going over to the cupboard and pulling out a needle, thread and a bottle of alcohol By the time she'd gathered everything Castiel was on the bed, Zach having cut through his shirt to help her get to his shoulder.

"Is he going to be okay?" Chuck asked as he ran into the room, panic lining his features as he looked at the state Castiel was in.

Jenn lifted her shoulder in a small shrug as she poured the alcohol onto a cloth and began wiping away the blood, "I- I don't know but you need to go and tell Dean what happened. Now!" She added sharply when Chuck just stood there, returning her attention back to Castiel as she cleaned the wound, flinching internally at every small whimper and sound of pain he made. She soon had it clean, biting her lip as she saw how deep it was but there wasn't much she could do. She quickly set about closing it, picking up the needle and thread as she began to thread it and pull the skin together, the blood flow lessening as she worked.

She poured some alcohol over it again before motioning for Zach to help sit him up while she wrapped a bandage around his chest and torso and tied it off tightly. She grabbed a cleaner cloth and began wiping Castiel's forehead gently before standing up and beginning to tidy up the area around them, praying for all of them that he would be alright.

Hey, please review and follow! I hope you like it, I love End!Verse and I wanted to try my hand at it, this is my first try at writing this kind of thing so feedback would be much appreciated. My tumblr is the same as my account name on here if you have any questions!