The weeping world
Dean picked up his gun and led the group of 10-15 survivors that resided at Camp Chitaqua, including Cas and Dean's friend Aadi, down track through the huts. He gathered them all by the trucks and began explaining their mission for the day. "Today, we are heading to the village west of the camp to look for survivors of the croatoan virus. Be on your guard for Croats and have your gun with you the whole time. Do not stray too far from the group, we've lost enough people already". Then he proceeded to get into the truck and head off to the west as the sun was rising above the trees.
As the truck rattled along a dirt track he hummed to ACDC in his head, keeping focused on their surroundings. He had his gun pointed out of the car in case of Croats or any other threat to the group. The trucks rounded the corner, bumping over potholes and ditches and emerged out of the wood, into the beginnings of a village. They past a sign that read 'Upper Willowwich, please drive carefully through our village'. Dean laughed in his head at the sign, 'drive carefully'? There were 10 guns pointing out of the windows of the two trucks, they couldn't get much more careful. They were forever on guard, as it wasn't easy to tell if someone was infected, the Croats were getting pretty good at acting like poor survivors, before going in for the kill.
The village was desolate, he could see a worn down, abandoned sweet shop, amongst several rows of little cottages. They weren't exactly 'cosy' anymore, the windows were smashed, weeds were growing over the building, the grass was half a meter high and doors were open or missing on some. It made Dean nostalgic, to the time when this village would have been a thriving, happy place, when he had had his brother beside him. Instead he was creating plans to kill his brother, and the being which possessed him. The truck halted in the middle of the street, the group stepped out, loaded their guns, gathered any other weapons and headed off in search of survivors. This was important for the camp, they needed all the man power they could get, besides they couldn't let people hideaway in these villages, towns and cities when they would be much better, protected and well fed behind the camp walls. Dean, Cas and 5 other people headed north, to look in the church, whilst Aadi, his fiancé Nicola and 6 others headed west into the cottages to search them.
Dean entered the church, pushing the creaking door just wide enough to slip through. Dean saw a figure in the corner of the large hall as soon as he entered. It rushed through a dark brown, worn down door on the left of the church. He glimpsed around at the stain glass windows in front of him and 10 or so rows of pews, before running in the direction of the door, gun in hand and signalled for the others to back him up. Cas opened the door sharply, letting Dean point his gun straight inside and scour the room. It was a fairly dusty study and was empty apart from the family cowered underneath a book shelf on the far right corner. There were three children a boy about 14, and two girls around 10 and 8. The parents of the family were armed with a lamp shade and broom, practical, be able to beat any Croat with that Dean thought sarcastically. Him and the rest of the team held up their hands and lowered their guns, to show they meant no harm to these people before Dean explained that they were from the nearby recue camp, Chitaqua, he then went on to ask them if they'd like to come back with them to the camp. "Um, if you are who you say you are, then we'd be glad of the help" the mother gushed, a look of relief on her face. The dad, however was a tad more weary "How do we know you're not Croats, or worse demons?" he questioned.
Dean figured this would be tricky to answer as even if they poured holy water on themselves, they couldn't actually prove that it was holy water. "You'll just have to trust us, you've got no other choice" he said defiantly, squaring his shoulders and trying his best to look authoritive. The parents looked from one another to the children, their faces unreadable, before cautiously agreeing to come back with them. Dean thought it was sad, that the human race couldn't trust anyone these days, they'd lost faith and hope in everything. Lost hope in a saviour.
On the way back to camp, Dean pondered the family's story, he was interested in it, probably because most of the time nothing happened in the camp and he was glad of the new stories they would bring. But dean decided he would let them settle in, before delving his nose rudely into their business. At the camp, Dean jumped off the truck and walked towards his hut. He dropped his rifle, washed his face and hands, and headed to medical hut, where the family would be being checked over by Dr Lester.
When he got there not only were the family that they rescued earlier there, but a group of 10 or so people covered in bandages were also in the hut, Dean presumed one of the patrols had picked them up, around the boundaries of the camp. He went over to Alice, a girl who had been here since the camp first started to get filled in on the situation. "Dean, glad you're here" she greeted her leader. "So, where did you pick up this lot?" Dean asked. Alice glanced over at the group, her gaze rested on one older man. "Do you know him?" Dean asked searching for anything that could link the two, but now e thought about it, he didn't know much about Alice. "Err, yeah, that's my dad actually" she answered. "Really, well I'm super glad, that you found him" Dean told her with a smile. It made him happy when families were reunited. "Also, the west guard patrol found them when you were out. They tested them for croatoan virus and possession, all clean". Dean breathed I sigh of relief, it was broke his heart when they had to kill someone, friends even because they had the virus or were possessed. "That's good to know" he said to Alice, before sending her off to set up a bed for her father. Dean approached the new group, had them tell them their story, they had come from another survivor camp, but it had been attacked, leaving only them that they know of. Dean got their names down and assessed their abilities, trying to find any strength they could use.
When he was sure, everything was fine there, he decided to pay Cas a visit. His friend hadn't spoken much on their mission. Usually, Cas was cracking jokes the whole way but not today, Dean had to find out was bothering him so much. As he reached the hut, he caught the smell of weed and... Perfume for some reason. Then a young girl hobbled out of the hut, explains the perfume Dean thought. He got out of the girls way as she nearly tripped down the stairs. He had no sympathy for her, she was clearly high, and he didn't have time for that sort of stuff with the aftermath of the apocalypse on his hands. Dean pushed away the beads that covered the doorway and cautiously entered, he had no idea what Cas could be doing in here and past experiences made him wary.
It was too dim inside to make out Cas at first, but when his eyes adjusted he saw him. The once angel was sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. He was taking swigs from a bottle of whiskey and just thinking. He didn't seem to notice Dean come in, so Dean cleared his throat. That made Cas look up slightly. "What do you want?" Cas said, the annoyance in his voice obvious." Woah, Cas don't get your knickers in a bunch, what have I done?" Dean replied, feigning the same level of annoyance. Cas didn't say anything else, so Dean walked over to his friend and sat down beside him. He missed the days when Cas was an angel. He may have had a stick up his arse and been rude at times, but at least he wasn't broken like he was now.
