CHAPTER 2 - When at the barrel of a gun...

Dean's heart jumped to his throat, a shiver crawling down his spine as Bobby's words cut right through him. "Bobby, why are other hunters after us?" He asked, sucking in a breath as the sound of the creaking door once again caught his attention.

"Because your brother let the damn Devil stroll out of Hell..." Bobby barked, pointing out what was quite obvious to him. "He has demon blood in him, Dean! You and I both know it was only a matter of time before other hunters caught on to what he's been doing..."

"We've got much bigger things to deal with right now, than Sam's demon blood." Dean started, trying to keep his voice from bouncing off the walls around him as he studied his dark surroundings with a cautious eye. "The damn angels knew what needed to be done to stop Lucifer from rising and they let it happen, they wanted us to face judgem..."

"Dean." Bobby interrupted, cutting the other man short. "Other hunters don't know what we know... they don't know the angels and demons wanted the same thing to happen. What they do know, is that Sam's the one who broke the last seal... You two need to get out of there, NOW."

"Thanks for the heads up." Dean quickly replied, flipping his cell phone shut and shoving it into his pocket as he took another glance at the room around him. He swore under his breath as he grabbed his shotgun, instantly realizing that rock salt would do him no good.

"I'm not picking anything up Dean, not even a glitch." Sam started, eyeing the EMF meter in his hand as he made his way back towards his older brother. "It's almost..."

"That's cause the place isn't haunted." Dean cut in, reaching out to grab his brother by the shirt. "C'mon we need to get out of here."

"Dean what's wrong?" Sam was quick to ask, taking a step forward as his older brother dragged him along.

"The hunt's a trap." Dean replied, taking a nervous look around before focusing on the boarded up doorway they had come in through. "Other hunters set us up, they lured us out here so that they could ki..." Dean trailed off as the sound of a gunshot echoed in the abandoned mill, shattering the silence of night as a bullet ripped through the back of his left shoulder. He swore under his breath as the shotgun dropped from his hands and his flashlight hit the ground. "Son of a bitch!" He hollered, his voice resonating in the room as he turned around, his eyes locking on the silhouette of a man standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor. He put a hand to his chest and swore to himself again as he drew in a ragged breath, the slug hadn't gone right through.

Sam instantly turned to his brother, trying to see where the other man had been hit. Pushing Deans' hands aside, his eyes fell on the dark spot behind the other man's shoulder, blood starting to soak through his shirt and jacket. "Just take it easy." He said, pressing a hand against the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

When the sound of a shotgun being loaded caught their attention, both turned slightly to face a man that had stepped out of the darkness. Blocking their only exit from the rundown mill, two more men joined the first, guns in hand. They might have been outnumbered but with Dean injured and nothing more than a shotgun loaded with rock salt between them, they didn't even stand a chance. "Who the hell are you?" Sam started, eyeing the man that was slowly approaching as he put himself between his older brother and the stranger.

"I'm the one with the gun." The man chuckled, his laugh echoing eerily in the mill.

"Ok, what do you want?" Sam continued.

"Bragging rights." The hunter replied, shouldering his shotgun.

"For what?" Sam asked, his stern tone of voice doing little to hide his fear as he took a step back, forcing Dean to do the same.

"Killing the one that freed Lucifer from Hell." The hunter replied with a soft chuckle. "Haven't you heard? You've been declared fair game, this demon blood of yours put you on the map like you would not believe..."

Dean clutched his shoulder in pain, feeling the blood seeping through his fingers and running down his back. He swallowed hard as he eyed the barrel of the gun only a few feet away from them. "Leave him alone." He growled. "You guys don't know half of what's going on here... we have a lot worse to worry about than the damn demon blood."

"Dean Winchester..." The hunter started, smiling slightly as he took another step forward. "Pulled from Hell by angels to save the world from the Apocalypse." The hunter paused for a moment as he caught Dean's eyes over his younger brother's shoulder. "I did my research don't you worry about that." He paused again as he watched Dean's eyes drift over to the men at his sides. "Here's a news flash for ya kid, you can't stop the Apocalypse..."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Dean interrupted, silencing the hunter in front of him as he stepped up to join his brother. "If you knew what we knew, you wouldn't be here to hunt us down... you'd be here to help us."

"We can't win this war." The hunter replied, his confidence bittersweet. "So I'm going to do mankind one last favor and kill the ones that got it started. Other hunters out there, are considering this a consolation prize."

"Leave us alone." Sam cut in, swallowing hard as he felt the muzzle of a gun dig into his back. He glanced over as Dean took a sudden step forward, his older brother stumbling as a second man with a gun pushed him along, separating them. "This isn't something you want to do."

"Oh trust me, it is..." The hunter snarled as he gave Sam a sinister smile. "You just hang tight, I'll be right with you." When he turned his attention from one brother to the other, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "So Dean, where is your angel sidekick?" The hunter started, pressing the muzzle of his shotgun into the other man's chest as his buddy turned his gun on Sam. "I'm curious, never seen an angel before and it was my understanding that you had one following you around..."

"I use to." Dean cut in, his eyes narrowing on the man in front of him as his thoughts drifted back to the last time he'd seen Castiel. "I haven't heard from him in weeks... I haven't heard from any of them in weeks."

"Put your hands on the back of your head." The man demanded. Dean winced in pain as he did what he was told, holding the position was beyond excruciating. When he caught Sam's eyes, he knew the situation they were in was dire and it was more than obvious by the look on his face, that his younger brother did as well. "Now, take one last look at..."

"Please, you came here looking for me.... leave him alone." Sam interrupted, getting the hunter's attention away from his older brother. "Just take me and let him go." He took a step forward but froze as all guns but one turned towards him.

"You wait your turn." The hunter snarled as his eyes narrowed on the younger of the two. "You're in this together, you're going to die together."

Sam caught his brother's eyes one last time before he watched them slowly close, his face was painted in pain and despair and a tear was slowly starting to roll down his cheek. When the hunter loaded the shotgun he had pressed into Dean's chest, Sam knew he had to do something, fast. Dean couldn't pay the price for his mistake, the fate of mankind was counting on him.

When Sam put a hand out towards him, Dean felt as if he'd just been punched in the chest. He was gasping for breath when his brother simply flicked a wrist to the left, sending him sailing across the floor and into the small boiler room nearby. He hit the wall hard and fell to the ground as the large door swung shut and locked, leaving him in total darkness. Unsure of what had just happened, he picked himself up off the floor, putting a hand to his chest as he tried to catch his breath. Stumbling through the dark he made his way to the door, feeling around until his hand grasped the cold door knob.

He could hear his brother arguing with the hunters and swore to himself when he couldn't get the door to open. "Sammy!?" He called out, pounding his fist against the door as he desperately tried to get it open. His heart jumped to his throat when the sound of gunshots suddenly filled the air, there was no doubt in his mind of what was happening on the other side. "SAMMY!" He shouted, ignoring the searing pain as he threw a shoulder against the door in a vain attempt to get it open. The thoughts that were rushing through his head made him sick to his stomach. The images of his brother at the wrong end of the gun, were so sharp that he was starting to feel nauseous. "SAMMY!" He cried out, his coarse voice muffled by the pain of each breath.

When a shotgun blast came right through the door he was pounding on, everything instantly faded to black.