Prologue
In the end, it wasn't the Croatoan virus. The microscopic bug that rendered the world to this almost apocalyptic nightmare? Yeah, it wasn't the Croatoan virus. It wasn't demons trying to bring hell on earth for the glory of their fallen-father, Lucifer. It wasn't the angels trying to bring about a perfect world without their Father's flawed human creation. It wasn't even the Leviathan letting loose a chemical cocktail to hold dominion over their favorite snack: humanity.
There was no great evil that anyone could point to and say: This. This horrible enemy of all that was good and right did this to us.
In the end, after all the brothers Winchester and Team Free Will had done to protect their world against supernatural forces, it was actually humans who ultimately did the most to destroy humanity. And wasn't that an ironic kick in the pants for them? This plague they had survived was entirely man-made; then spread far and wide by man's panic and stupidity.
Oh, people liked to blame the monkeys; as though the lab animals had any choice in the matter concerning their experimentation. But the truth of the matter was only people were to blame for humanity's near destruction.
Near destruction.
Because humans were nothing if not adaptable and persistent.
Naturally, at the center of the rebuilding effort stood humanity's champions: Sam and Dean Winchester.
In the last decade plus, the admittedly aging Hunters spent less and less time hunting ans more and more time building. They built a bastion of safety in a world where technology had failed. Dean designed an infrastructure to keep drinkable water flowing and food on the many tables. Sam wrote a constitution that all survivors could and would support. Dean organized the masses into a healthy workforce and an efficient defense force. Sam provided an intermediary between individuals and families in order to keep the peace.
The Winchesters had heard of talking and intelligent apes, of course. The two of them kept a sharp ear out for urban legends in their former (and still occasional) line of work. Real or not, as long as those apes weren't dropping human bodies the brothers didn't care.
They had enough to deal with.
Like dwindling supplies and a growing community. Thanks to their unusual upbringing, Sam and Dean could build just about anything from scratch. Both men were the best doctors you could have that had never actually gone to medical school. They even knew how to process raw materials into things like antibiotics (yeah, the laboratory ones worked better but what they could make worked well enough for most things.)
Unfortunately, welcoming new survivors always strained resources. And no survivor willing to live and work in the community by the community rules was ever turned away. So it sometimes became necessary to salvage what they could from abandoned cities. So, every year during the slowest and most relaxed time of the year, the brothers packed their duffles and ranged out into the wilds that America had become.
Once, they had returned in a barely functioning semi tractor-trailer that was filled to the brim with toilet paper, to the delight and celebration of all those who welcomed them home.
Eventually, there would be nothing left to salvage. By then, though, the community would have become self-sufficient.
Ideally.
It was one of these walk-abouts when the Winchesters discovered one more urban legend that wasn't a legend at all...
A/N: Anyone interested in more?