Echo on the wind chapter 1
In the beginning it was hell
Nathalia pov
Click. The mute sound of my boots on wet, dank, blood soaked pavement, the government was here recently, that much is noticeable by the dead bodies everywhere and the blood spattering and coating the buildings, cars and other items strewn about.
This was once the bustling tourist city of Auburn, just outside the Sierra Nevada county line, now it's like the rest of the world. A living, or rather dead explanation of why the demons must be destroyed, the year is twenty fourteen and as predicted; Croatoan virus broke free of hell's confines through a lesser known Winchester named Adam. After the virus was set free humans worldwide became ravenous for blood and destruction, the streets became wild with panic as demons and people they'd know for years, rampaged killing off or infecting anyone they could get their hands on.
Now, six months later the world is left in ruins, a few handfuls of people managed to survive and evade the government who seeks out those who are healthy and recons them back to a decontamination base before experimenting on how they didn't contract the virus. Out of the few handfuls that aren't captured, well we either go off as lone wolves or congregate into different settlements that have gone into some of the most desolate and serene locations to try and start over again.
As for me, well, I spend my days traveling as I did last year, hunting demons so that I may capture and torture them, find out what they know on how to reverse this damage done to the our world.
RAAAAAAAEEEEEEERRRR! I the familiar screech of a fully advanced case of Croatoan virus, whirling around I see about fifteen or more Croat's chasing after a young girl heading straight for what is left of a Macy's store.
"ANNAAAA!" I hear the child screaming for someone that's probably familiar to them; in a flash my feet are carrying me after the Croats. Within seconds I've closed in on them, a gleaming streak of metal follows up my approach, the creature's heads tumble to the floor. Two more in front of me abandon the notion of going after a defenseless child only to come after me, I take a more defensive pose and pull out another sword.
The two infected humans lunge at me with fangs bared and ready to try and infect me as well, they never get the chance as I run directly between them with both swords pushed out to the sides lopping them completely in half with the greatest of ease.
A front flip has me tucking the blades back into their sheath, upon landing I snatch up the small child and make a run for the back office because there are more Croats coming in the front door.
Just as I reach the doorway I realize that I'm not gonna be able to get the kid to safety without both of us being captured. However there's a long bleach blonde haired woman inside that isn't infected so I sling the child to her via the still newly waxed floor.
She grabs hold of the baby girl as I pull out a different weapon, a hand grenade I raided from a slaughtered out military camp a few weeks back.
I pull the pin and throw the grenade out as I tuck myself into the room and slam the door shut, within two seconds flat I have a metal framed chair acting as a lock underneath the industrial lock. With that I find myself diving forward to cover the woman and child. The grenade detonates so I move away from both innocent humans drawing a gun on both just in case they decide to attack me even though I've just saved both of them.
"Please don't hurt us…we aren't going to attack you." The blonde says, it's now I realize she's only sixteen and seeming very defenseless.
"We've done nothing to disturb you, just leave." I hear from the manager's office to my right, looking that way I see a woman who is in her early twenties; she wears a black pair of skinny jeans that are worn to a frazzle and a very worn and bloodied Slayer T shirt. She's the image of what I used to be like as a young teenager.
I holster my twin revolvers and extend a hand to her. "Nathalia Colt." I make the introduction moving in such a way I seem less threatening than I was a moment before.
The red and black haired woman before me looks at me wearily before accepting the introduction. "Annalisa Victoria Harlem." She introduces herself, I know by one look into her hazel green eyes that we will make a great team.
"Are you the leader in this group?" My question brings her to complete ease. "Yes, I am. Where is your group?" Anna asks looking out the small, now blown out window of the door I came in through, she appears to be searching for my followers which are nonexistent. "I don't have one, I travel alone. However I do help women and children find sanctuary in settlements." I reply to her as if offering to help her do this task.
"There are settlements? I thought there we're just traveling groups…nomads." The girl I slung the child to interjects.
"There aren't many, maybe a half dozen on the west coast, only a few of those are even worth the time to go to for help. There is one not far from here I've decided to investigate, if you wish to come with me I may be able to get you refuge there. All settlements want children around, after all. At this point Children literally are the future to mankind." My offer doesn't go unheard, more children than I thought possible to have lived start to walk out of different corners of this room and adjoining rooms.
All of them between the ages of seventeen as young as two, my heart throbs just a little knowing that Anna must have taken them under her care when their families died or we're captured into military camps.
"Anna, it's the best option we have. We've not eaten in days, and the snow will be falling any day now." The blonde I pulled a gun on says looking to Anna with pleading blue eyes.
"What do you want in exchange?" Anna asks accusingly. "Do I look like a woman in need?" I reply then turn for the door.
Anna pov
Tawny red dish water blonde hair, a scar going across her left eye looking as if someone almost took her life with a blade of some sort, the body of a nineteen fifties super model, built like a brick wall. I mean you can see the muscle in her torso under the mostly torn fish net body suit she wears under a well battered leather sports bra type top. It almost looks as if she took a leather jacket and sewed it herself, if she did you can barely tell.
For a cover of her lower body she's taken terribly worn down leather pants and sewn them up just right so they make extreme mini shorts. Under the short she wears a pair of leggings that appear to be made of different black snake skins, for the holes that have worn in those she's chosen to put on thick black leggings so in all she has to be warm enough.
Clinging to her feet are lace up combat boots that look like they may have had stiletto spiked heels at one point in time. But she broke them off to use them as combat boots, good idea I suppose, her hair is let down and in a wild mess. Strapped to several different belts are many different kinds of weapons, three guns, two swords, five hand grenades, some kind of steal nun chucks, and throwing stars.
"Nathalia, might I rummage for clothing?" I ask, hopefully she can understand my need to do this, I'm obviously not as savvy as she is when it comes to using animal skins and hand spun thread to make clothing.
She looks over her shoulder to me and the kids following us then back outside. "We all should look around." She amends as she reaches for the door to slide it shut flipping the lock. After the doors are secured shut she places a pole behind the door in the track so the doors can't be shoved open.
"Those suitcases over there? Do they roll?" She asks Brit, the sixteen year old she almost shot a few minutes ago. "Yes they do." Brit replies. "One of those should be filled with any food we can find that is still edible, the electricity is on so the freezers are still working, grab any frozen meat, if you can find salt grab that to. Anna take the older kids and look around for clothes for everyone in your group, little ones, ya know what your gonna do?" Nathalia asks crouching down to their height and taking a much friendlier tone with them.
"WHAT?! We get to help?!" Angela asks excitedly, she's seven and always eager to help me wherever she can.
"You sure do, see this? You need to all stick together and find all the items on this list." Nathalia says handing the brown haired girl a piece of paper.
"Yay!" Angela exclaims taking the paper and then running off into the store with the kids fast behind.
"If anyone runs into trouble…scream. I'm gonna go secure the building and mark it." Nathalia says before taking off towards the back rooms that would normally be off limits to people like us.
Dean Winchester pov
"Sam, we're running low on supplies, Bobby hasn't returned and the garden is dying quickly, half the live stock is either sick or starving to death. Winter is on its way in and we haven't found a single person who knows anything about medical problems that could even remedy a small portion of the sick people around here. It'll be a miracle if we make it through to the end of winter." I start off the meeting; the only people in here right now are mom, dad, Sam, Casstiel, Charlie and a friendly angel named Gadriel who found us after the angels crashed to earth.
"I may be able to use some of my power to strengthen the live stalk and regenerate the green house plants." Gadriel amends. "Okay get on that when we're done here. Casstiel, the cabin next door to you is complaining again about the smoke blowing into their living room, so either shut that window or out on your porch. Dad, mom, you guys need to try and get Bobby on a phone or something, we need to know where he is at right now." I order then stand up and head for the door thoroughly pissed that this entire village is falling apart before we even had a chance at getting started on surviving this disaster.
Sam pov
"Why does he always address the problems to you?" Gadriel asks from the other end of the table. "It's all he knows, dad died when we I was twenty, Dean's no thirty two and I'm now twenty seven…so for seven years any problem he had I also had." I amend as Dad tries to radio through to Bobby again.
"Singer, this is John would you answer damn it. We've got big problems here at home base." Dad says into the trucker radio that is programmed to Bobby's.
"Gotcha John, sorry for the radio silence, truck battery ran out. We're down in auburn getting ready to stop in at a store, figure to check it for supplies." Bobby replies, a feeling of relief floods over all of us upon hearing this.
"We? Got a mouse in your pocket, or a horse on the truck?" Dad asks trying to bring some humor to the stressful situation.
"Nope, got a few stray kids, some hunting dogs and a cat for the barn. Plus a ton of other supplies." Bobby replies through the radio.
"Alright, radio in when you're on your way here so we can warn the guards at the gate." Dad amends. "You got it. Over." Bobby comments, then both radio's go silent…..
Nathalia pov
"How long have you been alone?" Anna asks me the question and I give a bitter sweet smile. "Since the day I was born." I reply to her question, she frowns. "Well who raised you?" She asks sounding deeply saddened for me. "Foster homes mostly. I ran away when I was fifteen, bounced around from place to place hunting monsters saving people." I explain the typical life of a hunter.
"Monsters?" Anna asks and I give her a questioning look. "What you think these things are Zombies? This is all the work of a demon, well several demons, that meteor shower that happened the night before all this happened? That was every angel in heaven falling to earth, there's two men responsible for trying to fix this, the notorious Winchester brothers." I explain in a simple less lengthy story that would terrify all the kids following us.
"I had no idea; I thought the government did this by accident." Anna whispers as she looks around at the world in a whole new light, she's seeing this in a whole new feeling of terror and anger. Both feeling's I've long since become numb to, I really don't care about anyone or anything, the only reason I continue helping people is because I do want to cross paths with a Winchester and deliver the one item that is key to this whole mess being cleaned up.
I will never stop until this vial of angel grace is delivered back to its rightful owner, even if I have to take my last breath to get it to them, this war must end.
She's about to speak again but I quickly grab her by the elbow and shove her down a nearby alley way. "Take cover now!" I order back to the children, they all run down the alley way and I silently order them to hide in or behind the few dumpsters that are shoved down here.
I grab a single grenade from my belt and step back out in the middle of the street, up ahead there's a very large big rig loaded down with tons of supplies of different kinds. An heavy set older man is driving the rig, wearing a worn out faded baseball cap, and a red plaid shirt. In the passenger's seat are two men around seventeen or eighteen in age but in all very handsome and well built. There's a woman in the back part of the cab looking very scared and very pregnant.
The driver takes quick note of the grenade and stops his rig to step out, he puts his hands up show he has no weapons on him before he speaks.
"No harm coming from here mam, we're just passing through to the camp up in those mountains." He says nodding towards donner summit.
"You're heading towards Donner's summit?" I ask trying to confirm that this is indeed where he's going. "Yes, mam. Are you looking to get there as well? Cause I can say you won't get there on foot before them there clouds drop a few tons of snow on ya." The trucker says nodding up towards the sky.
"I'm not personally heading there to stay for any length of time, I'm leading a rogue group of children and their foster mother up there hoping for them to take residence." I explain the situation, the old timer looks around me at the desolate city.
"You travel alone?" He asks. "Yes, I do. When I'm not hunting Croats and helping people get to safety…My name is Nathalia." I introduce myself for a second time today, this is an aggravation to me, I really hate having to repeat myself.
"Bobby Singer." The old man says offering a handshake to me as I re-clip the grenade to my hip. "As in the Bobby Singer closely related to Dean and Sam Winchester?" I ask, he gives me a skeptical look as I accept his handshake.
"Depends on why you ask?" Singer questions suddenly being a bit more guarded, I give a laugh. "Trust me when I say I have no ill will towards them. I'm just trying to return two items that are rightfully theirs and might be a wee bit useful to their mission impossible." I explain to him, he nods that he hears but still doesn't seem to understand.
"I have someone's angel grace and the colt forty five….I'm Samuel Colt's great, great, great granddaughter." I explain to Bobby whose eyes light up.
"So you are a hunter…well, any hunter is more than welcome to our village, the Winchester boys are there. Take your group and climb on up, we'll give you a lift there." Mr. Singer offers, I look back to the alley way and beckon Anna forward.
"Mr. Singer this is Anna, she's the mother to the kids." I half hazard say as I start scooping up the youngest kids and handing them up onto the flat bed to the older kids who've already taken to getting onto the truck.
"Nathalia….here, mind keeping guard? We've had to chase off a few rogues from getting onto the truck." Bobby says holding up an AR-15 with a very long ammo chain on it. I smile wickedly and accept the weapon. With it in hand I climb up onto the flat bed as well then help Anna on board, once everyone is seated I climb up on top of the pallets with a very defiant, wicked smirk on my face I stand look out for anyone stupid enough to try and raid this truck….