Hello again! Just want to throw this out there: I added some random dudes into the mix, because well it's a zombie story and cannon fodder… So don't mind the lack of details on them.
Chapter 2
Castiel woke to find himself in the fetal position, curled up on the couch. He began to stretch his legs out and found that there was something at the end of the couch. No, someone. The other man groaned in his sleep and slapped Castiel's shin. He sat up and found that Dean had fallen asleep sitting up at the end of the couch.
"He does that." A voice said. It was the older man from last night.
"Name's Bobby. Dean tells me your name is Castiel?" Bobby asked. Castiel nodded.
"I didn't think it was possible for me to sleep." He said thoughtfully.
"You get used to it. If you're hungry, there's food in the kitchen. You can meet the others in there." Bobby gestured towards the kitchen.
Castiel hadn't even heard the others talking, but of course they were gathered around the small kitchen talking softly. They seemed to be nice people. They were careful not to wake anyone else up as they moved about. Castiel's stomach growled. Breakfast was sounding really good.
"Hey. Castiel, right?" A young blonde asked as he entered the kitchen.
"That's right." He glanced around the room at the others.
"I'm Jo. This here is Ash, Gus, Meg, and Hank." Everyone waved as their name was mentioned. Gus and Hank shared a chubby redneck guy look. They both appeared to be in their thirties.
"Hi." Castiel said awkwardly. Meg grinned.
"He's cute." She whispered to Ash. The blonde rolled his eyes and smiled at Castiel.
"So, Dean was telling us last night about how you saved his life." Ash said.
"Oh, no, quite the opposite." Castiel shook his head.
"Don't be modest. That was pretty brave of you to distract the zombies, especially without a weapon." Jo said.
"It was stupid if you ask me." Bobby piped in from the other room. Castiel scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"That sounds more accurate." He said as he made his way to the food covered countertop.
"Is Dean still sleeping sitting up?" Hank asked.
"Yep." Jo confirmed.
"I don't know how he does it." Gus shook his head.
"Let me guess. It's because I took his spot." Castiel frowned.
"Oh, don't worry about it. We'll be leaving here soon and our sleeping arrangements will change anyway." Jo smiled.
Everyone went back to eating breakfast and Castiel was glad to be done with introductions. No one asked him about his past or his experience with zombies. He wasn't sure he was willing to bring up his parents anytime soon.
"I smell bacon." Dean groaned as he headed toward the kitchen.
"How much sleep did you end up getting?" Jo asked, concerned.
"Ah, who knows? Enough? I'm starving." Dean filled his plate and made his way to Castiel.
"Hey, Cas. Feeling better?" Dean asked the last part quietly. Castiel nodded.
"I didn't realize I was sleeping in your spot. You should've made me move." Castiel grumbled.
"But you were all curled up and comfy." Dean grinned. "Besides. I had enough room at the end."
"So, what's with the suit? You some kind of young businessman?" Meg asked Castiel.
He had to look down at himself. He couldn't really remember what he was wearing. He took in his appearance and remembered deciding to dress up for 'the talk'.
"Yea, I can't believe you could sleep in all that." Bobby added, entering the kitchen.
"I was spending the weekend with my parents. I thought maybe looking like a well-mannered adult would earn me a little more respect when I told them…." Castiel realized he'd said too much and looked down at his plate.
"Told them what?" Ash asked curiously. Everyone had eyes for Castiel. He couldn't believe he'd overshared. Everyone was quiet for a while. Dean was getting ready to tell everyone to drop it when Meg piped in.
"He's gay." She pouted. When everyone frowned at her she shrugged. "I've been there too, cupcake. I know what it's like. I'm bi, so when I came out to my parents I dressed up and everything too."
"She's right. I couldn't bring myself to tell them and now it doesn't matter anymore. I should've spent more time with them instead of worrying about how they'd react." Castiel's mind was back in that nightmare kitchen.
"Gay, straight, bi, pterodactyl. Doesn't matter none, boy. Your parents would've said the same thing." Bobby sounded sure of himself. Castiel smiled sadly at the older man and nodded.
"Whelp. Anyone else got any announcements?" Dean joked. The others laughed nervously. Castiel almost missed the shared look of disgust between Hank and Gus. He looked away quickly before they could see that he had noticed.
"Hey Cas, are you gonna eat the rest of that bacon?" Dean asked, leaning way too close to Castiel. He held his plate out to Dean so the other man could take the bacon. This made Dean grin. "Oh man, you're the best Cas."
"We should start heading out." Bobby announced. The others got up and spread out to pack their things.
"Anyone gives you trouble, you come to me boy. I'll put 'em in their place." Bobby said once the others were gone.
"Come on, Bobby, if anyone is that dumb I'll take care of 'em myself." Dean smirked. There was something malicious about that smirk. As though he was looking forward to causing someone pain.
"Thank you, but I'm sure I'll be fine." Castiel told the two men. The other two shared a look but nodded to Castiel.
"Hey, tell ya what. Why don't you ride with me, Jo, and Ash?" Dean offered.
Castiel agreed and before long everyone was loading up in the cars. Bobby was driving a van with Meg riding shotgun. Gus and Hank sat in the back. They had joined the group together, so they were rarely apart. Once Dean got to his Impala he declared Castiel would ride shotgun. The other two pretended to be upset but got into the backseat without raising a fuss.
"Once we get to Bobby's we'll find you a couple weapons. Any preferences?" Ash asked. Castiel shook his head.
"I've never really…" He frowned and looked out the window. Ash and Jo shared a look but remained quiet.
"We should train more people to use guns and bows. Preferably bows, since they don't make much noise." Jo said after a while. Dean nodded.
"You're right about that." He said. He glanced over at the newest addition.
"Feel like trying to learn to use a bow?" He asked Castiel.
"Sure." Castiel seemed lost in his thoughts.
The rest of the drive was in silence. When they arrived at Bobby's house Castiel was amazed to see that it looked like a fortress. The whole yard was fenced in and sharp pikes jutted outward. Some zombies had managed to get stuck on the pikes and were struggling to free themselves.
"The best part about Bobby is that he was always one of those crazy post-apocalypse believers. His house was pretty much set up for this shit before it even began." Dean told Castiel as they got out of the Impala.
"Not so crazy now, am I?" Bobby asked, joining them.
"Oh you're still crazy." Dean managed to look completely serious. Bobby laughed and welcomed everyone inside.
Again everyone parted ways as though they were used to this sort of thing. Dean led Castiel to the weapons room and suggested he try a few things out. By the time they were done Castiel was equipped with a gun-for emergencies only-, a short bladed sword, a dagger, and a bow. It took Dean a moment to find holsters for everything and together he and Castiel decided where everything would be kept. The gun went on his right hip, the sword on the left, the bow on his back and the dagger on his ankle. Dean explained his reasoning to Castiel, the different situations for each weapon. Castiel was impressed. Dean was a professional zombie fighter in Castiel's eyes.
He found that Dean was a natural leader, a master in weapons and an all-around good guy. He seemed to get along well with everyone and they respected him. It didn't take long for Castiel to warm up to this group of zombie fighters. Survivors. He borrowed some clothes from Dean at the other man's insistence. Instead of the suit he now wore a grey t-shirt that had lettering so faded that Dean wasn't even sure what it said anymore, a black button up woven shirt and faded jeans.
"That's better." Dean nodded in approval
"Thanks." Castiel said as he finished rolling the sleeves up to his elbows.
"We're about the same size. If you don't mind, I have quite a few things you can have." Dean smiled.
Dean had set up a sort of training room in Bobby's basement. There were typical exercise materials such as weights and a punching bag, but there were also targets to practice using the bow or throwing knives. He had an area set up in the back yard too, but it wasn't always a good idea to train outside. Meg trained with Jo and Castiel trained with Dean. Some of the others were offered assistance as well but they felt as though they didn't need help. Before they could get too far into training Ash interrupted them.
"Hey guys. We need a supply run. Who all is game?" Ash asked.
Dean, Jo, and Castiel raised their hands. Meg sighed and raised her hand as well.
"No better training than the actual thing, right?" She winked at Castiel.
The others agreed so they took Ash's list of supplies and loaded up in the Impala. Dean went over the rules of sticking together and playing it safe. Their first stop was for medical supplies. Everyone pulled out a sword of some kind and headed inside the pharmacy. Three zombies were just inside the store and ran at them. Dean managed to take out two, Jo got the last one. The others stood watch while Meg loaded up a bag with the necessary supplies. Next was ammo. Dean knew exactly where to go for all their needs. They had to fight off five zombies this time. Meg had to pull one off of Jo so Dean could chop its head off. By the time they got to the ammo, there was blood splattered on each of them. Castiel was amused at the fact that he felt bad for dirtying up clothes that he was borrowing. As though there was any way to avoid getting dirt and blood everywhere.
Zombies started coming out from the aisles. Dean cursed and tried to stick close to the others but they got separated during their fight. Everyone was struggling to overpower the zombies. When Dean realized how far away he had gotten from the others he tried to make his way back, but didn't see the zombie charging at him from the side. It slammed into him, knocking his sword out of his hand. He fumbled for his dagger, holding the zombie's head away with one hand around its neck. Another zombie was approaching him quickly, growling and gasping. Jo was fighting for her life, dragging her sword out of a zombie's chest so she could try to get a good shot at its head. Meg had managed to get stuck beneath a particularly large zombie and was shoving the blade through its skull.
Castiel was stepping over a couple bodies and for a moment his eyes met Dean's. He was too far away to be able to get to him in time and more zombies were approaching the others. Dean turned his attention back to the zombie on top of him, managing to get the dagger and stabbing it through the zombie's eye. Before he could push the limp body off of his there were two more zombies crowding him. An arrow zipped through the air and pierced one of the zombies right between the eyes. Then the other received an arrow in the same location. Dean groaned in relief and struggled to his feet. When he turned to see who had used the bow he was shocked to see Castiel holding the crossbow out one-handed. He took out the zombies surrounding the girls as well and turned around to shove his sword into the zombie behind him. His face was expressionless. And he moved effortlessly. Castiel blinked and looked around at the others. Everyone was staring at him with their mouths slightly ajar.
"We uh should probably wrap this up." Dean managed to find his voice as he picked up his sword.
"I thought you didn't know how to use that thing?" Jo asked Castiel, her face still full of shock.
"I uh. Don't." Castiel frowned, his eyes lowered to the floor thoughtfully. He wasn't sure how he had managed to do any of that. It was like everything suddenly came to him, his body acting on its own. Everyone collected their things and followed Dean. They moved quickly, loading up as much ammo as they could carry and made their way back out to the Impala. Dean looked over at Castiel as he turned the key in the ignition. The other man was biting his bottom lip and looked like he was trying to remember something.
"Cas? You okay, man?" Dean asked. Castiel startled slightly and tried to give a reassuring smile but no one was fooled. "Good call on not using the gun, could've brought more out. Though you loaded the crossbow pretty quick."
"You must be some sort of natural." Meg offered from the backseat.
"Yea, that was… awesome. And hey, you saved Dean's life again." Jo grinned.
"Yea, yea, Cas is basically my guardian angel." Dean said with a crooked smile.
The rest of the trip was spent gathering food. They had to fight off a few zombies, but it was nothing like the ammo shop. As they were piling everything into the trunk, Jo went over the supply list and grinned.
"Alright! That should do it for a while." She told the others.
"Great, now let's get the hell out of here." Dean said.
They listened to a rock and roll tape in Dean's car on the way back to Bobby's. Everyone seemed content just listening to music. No point in talking. Once they were home, Bobby and Ash came out to help unload the supplies. Again, everyone did their part as though they were used to it. Castiel helped Jo take a couple bags of ammo down to the basement while Dean reported to Bobby. Jo separated all the different types of ammo and handed Castiel a package of arrows.
"I don't know how you managed to reload your arrows so quickly… or draw your sword with your left hand… but it was pretty cool." Jo smiled.
"I don't know what happened. It's like my body took over… Anything like that ever happen to you?" Castiel asked.
"If only." Jo shook her head. She smiled reassuringly at Castiel. "Come on, let's go see if the others need help with anything."
Jo went to the kitchen to help put away all the food supplies. Ash was walking by as they were headed to the kitchen.
"Hey, Castiel, you wanna go with me to help Hank and Gus? They're outside." Ash smiled at him.
"Ah, sure." Castiel agreed.
The other two men were working on repairs around the yard, pulling zombies off pikes. Ash announced their arrival and asked what they could do to help. Gus suggested they start burning the bodies without looking up from the fence he was working on. Hank frowned at Castiel.
"Alright man. We're going to drag all the zombie bodies into a couple piles and burn the suckers." Ash grinned at Castiel.
Some of the zombies were pretty heavy. There was no easy way to drag them into piles but after a while they managed to get all the zombies piled up. Castiel and Ash each took gasoline to the piles and tossed a couple matches on. By the time they were done it was already pretty late in the day.
"These should be pretty burnt before dark. It's best if we don't have the fires going at night. Attracts too much attention." Ash said, gesturing towards the burning zombies.
Jo came outside to call everyone in for dinner. She and Ash went together, talking about things Castiel didn't understand. As they ate, Bobby discussed sleeping arrangements. There were only three bedrooms and two had been set up with twin beds. He suggested everyone stay close together, reminding everyone that he had extra cots that could be put in the bedrooms.
"Let me guess. You get to keep the big comfy bed to yourself?" Jo asked.
"It's my house." Bobby shrugged.
"Jo and I used to share a room with the two twin beds, if you don't mind I can add a cot to that room and you can have the bed." Ash told Meg. She nodded.
"Sounds good." She agreed.
"Hank and I will take the other room then." Gus announced.
"I'm fine on the couch." Dean and Castiel said in unison. They both looked at each other in surprise.
"Well you're in luck. Plenty of couches for the both of you." Bobby laughed.
Everyone went back to finishing dinner. Gus and Hank got up first to finish up outside before it got dark. The others were telling a story about something from their past. Meg was listening to them, willing to get to know them. Castiel glanced at Dean. He appeared to be only half listening to the others.
"Is it okay?" Castiel asked. Dean turned to face him.
"Is what?" He seemed confused.
"You kind of seemed like you wanted to be alone. Sleeping on the couch I mean." Castiel said.
"Oh. No, no. Plenty of space in the living room. Actually, I kind of expected you to join me. Though I was thinking I'd have to suggest it." Dean laughed.
"Everyone ends up partnering up. More so now with the zombie apocalypse." Ash pointed out.
"I thought Dean was going to be adamant about staying on his own." Jo spoke up.
"What can I say? My usual partner got whisked away." Dean frowned.
"I'm sure Sam is just fine." Bobby reassured him.
"Yea, he's with my mom." Jo smiled.
"You guys get separated or something?" Meg asked. The others nodded.
"Just before things started getting really bad, Sam and Ellen went to go help a couple of friends…" Ash started out.
"They wanted to go round up their family, but wanted help against the zombies." Bobby pointed out.
"Of course, Sammy and Ellen were the first to volunteer." Dean shook his head.
"Well, anyway. They weren't supposed to be gone that long but a couple days went by and suddenly the outbreak was much worse. Last we heard from them they were in Nebraska." Jo said incredulously.
"Their cell was barely working enough to talk to us. So we still don't know how they ended up in Nebraska, but I'm sure they're okay." Ash chimed in.
"Sammy's my brother." Dean pointed out to Castiel.
"And like a son to me." Bobby added. He and Dean shared a look for a moment.
"Do you think they're trying to make their way back to you guys?" Meg asked.
"It's been weeks…." Ash looked around at the others and then down at his plate.
"They're fine. Probably found a better set-up there somewhere." Dean assured them.
Everyone finished up their dinner and headed outside to see if there was anything they could do to help before sundown. After the fires were put out, the fences reinforced, the gates locked, and all the entrances into the house were checked everyone headed back inside. There was an upper deck on the second floor where they had set up an area to keep watch. There was a cooler filled with various drinks, a cardboard box filled with snack foods and a couple chairs that stood high enough to see over the railing. Dean took Castiel out to the deck to show him around.
"This is where I'll be for the first half of the night." Dean patted the chair closest to the railing.
Castiel was leaning against the railing looking out over the front yard.
"There's a similar post set up around back. Out here we're away from town but now you never know which direction they could come in from." Dean was telling him. "Gus is on watch in the back. With how well this place is set up we probably don't need to be on guard so much but I don't think any of us would sleep well without knowing someone was on watch."
Castiel watched as a zombie ambled out from the trees and slowly approached the fenced in area. He was slowly impaled and didn't seem to notice until it was too late. It kept trying to move forward.
"Do they know we're here?" Castiel wondered.
"Hard to say. For the most part it seems like they just happen upon us." Dean stood beside Castiel to look out at the zombie in question. "You should go try to get some sleep."
"I'll see what I can do." Castiel said as he headed back inside. Dean smiled and turned back to watch over the yard.
Once back inside Castiel headed down to the basement. He didn't feel like sleeping, not when there was a nice training room he could be working in. He walked around the basement, inspecting everything on his own, making plans as he went. He needed to be strong for this group. Castiel had gone to the gym since high school but he was a little rusty. He wasn't sure how much time he spent in the basement, but by the time he was done he felt as though he might actually be able to go to sleep. He headed to the downstairs bathroom to freshen up a bit before heading to the living room and found Dean sitting on one of the couches. Their eyes met and Castiel wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to admit that he'd been working out to the point of near exhaustion. Dean yawned and lay back on the couch.
"Thought you had run away, Cas." Dean joked. Castiel swallowed, trying to calm his heartbeat.
"I probably wouldn't be able to get out of the gate." He said as he plopped down on the other couch. He took the button-up off and lay it on the coffee table. He considered taking the other shirt off as well and reminded himself to change into something more practical next time.