This took too long because I wasn't happy with it and I was preoccupied with other things. Anyway... It's slightly shorter than the previous chapters and all over the place... at least that's what I feel about it. By the way It's full of angst, sorry in advance. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless and I promise to get the next chapter up earlier this time (:
"Apple or cherry?" Sam peered over his book to see Gabriel sitting on the kitchen counter, legs swinging nonchalantly as a smile spread across his face.
"Why are you asking? If it's about pie, Dean's the one you go to-"
"Now why would I make a pie for Dean? In what universe?" Sam rolled his eyes but set his book down, walking over to Gabe and grabbing his legs to stop their persistent swinging before pulling him closer and leaning down to kiss him.
"How about we save the pie for later. Dean and Charlie are busy with a case today and Kevin went to get more supplies, knowing Cas is with him that will include groceries as well, and they won't be home for awhile-"
"What do you have in mind?" Gabe asked with a smirk, eyes falling to stare at Sam's lips. Sam scoffed and kissed his cheek before letting go and walking over to get his jacket off the chair and pull it over his shoulders.
"I thought the purpose was to get rid of layers, not put more on." Gabriel said sarcastically, jumping down from the counter and snatching a hold of Sam's jacket to pull him over.
"I was trying to suggest we get out of the bunker for once. Y'know, like a date of something?" Sam smiled shyly down at Gabriel as he laughed and stood up on his toes to kiss Sam again, hands reaching up to wrap around his neck and pull him down closer to his level.
"What do you have in mind? We can go anywhere."
It was all a blur. Sam could hear Kevin yelling in his ear but it sounded far away. Almost like the sound of water, the thickness that mutes your screams and makes everything feel like you're trying to run through quick sand. Slow motion. It's peaceful in that water if you let it be. If you give up thinking and give up on the muscles holding you up and just fall. Fall under the waves where you can't hear the screams, the reality, the familiar groans of walkers. It was quiet and painless. But Sam couldn't stay under the water this time. This time was different.
"Kevin get him out of here!" Sam looked up, making sure to keep his eyes away from the cage and locked with Charlie's. She was crying, her eyes puffy and watering but her face stern and unbreakable. Kevin was beside him, looking from the cage to Charlie and back again, as if not comprehending the situation, or just not wanting to.
"We need to open it. Charlie. Now." Sam tried to keep his voice calm but couldn't manage more than a few words. He tried standing up and reaching out for the cage, but Charlie put herself between it and him before he got there. Kevin finally realized the urgency of the situation and grabbed Sam's arms, trying to pull him back.
"Get my brother. Please. He can fix this, he always fixes everything. He'll fix this... Charlie let me open it." Sam tried for the cage lock again but was pulled away by Kevin. He couldn't let himself fall under, not this time, not this person, not again.
"Okay. Okay Sam. We'll go get Dean. Come on. We need to go." Charlie was using her everything's-going-to-be-okay voice. Sam didn't buy it.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, pulling out of Kevin's hold and pushing past Charlie to break open the cage.
"I still think this is one of your biggest dumbass ideas yet, trusting her." Rick looked over at Daryl from where they were hiding behind the barricade outside of Woodbury, watching after Michonne as she ran towards what she swore was the Governor's house. According to her he had taken Glenn and Maggie, but this is all coming from the woman who found her way to their new shelter at the local prison, bloody and half-dead. No one wanted to trust her, they were never good with outsiders and other survivors, more so than ever after they came across that bunch in the jail. Rick still didn't entirely trust the two of them that were currently hiding behind this blockade with him to help. But then again, he just has a hard time trusting people.
"It's the best chance we got at bringing 'em home, don't ya wanna find your brother? It's the only reason you're here right?" Rick asked, grabbing Daryl's attention away from peering around the blockade.
"Not the only reason." Daryl muttered under his breath, looking over at Rick through the corner of his eye before going back to peering over the blockade. "Anyway, the chick said this Governor guy sent his men to kill her when she chose to leave. And apparently the bastard is also keeping biters for sport, storing their heads in a room of his house like sick trophies... If he has Glenn and Maggie I'm obligated to help your weak ass in getting 'em far away from this insane fuckface." Rick laughed and nudged Daryl with his shoulder.
"Careful, you're starting to sound like you care-"
"Well someone has to keep these losers alive, and you ain't cuttin' it at the moment."
"Dean."
"Hmm?"
"Nothing. I thought I heard something." Dean yawned and opened his eyes to find Cas staring at him, inches from his face.
"Geez Cas... It's probably nothing. One of your nightmares again?" Cas nodded his head and Dean wrapped his arms around him, pulling him against his chest. "Just go back to sleep. I'm right here, we're in a blockaded town, not the Impala. You'll be fine." Cas just sighed and hid his head under Dean's chin. It didn't take long for him to fall back asleep, but the next time he woke up, he woke up screaming.
"Cas?!" Dean reached out and held him still as the shaking started up again and Cas was still distant to reality. "Shhh, you're okay, we're both okay, why don't you tell me what it's about this time?" Dean had to deal with Cas like this ever since this whole mess started. He started having frequent nightmares that would either wake him up shaking or screaming. Neither knew what was causing this, Cas wasn't one to get scared easily, never was. But the weird part was that they always seemed to happen before something terrible. Like losing Gabriel and Andy dying... Prophet was way out of the picture according to Cas, but he didn't have an answer to what exactly was causing the dreams, they worried him just as much as they worried Dean. He started to wonder if they were like the premonitions Sam used to get... But again, neither could be sure. They needed to focus more on the zombie apocalypse and not the supernatural occurrences that used to be an everyday job.
Cas finally calmed down, cursing under his breath and hiding his face in Dean's chest. If there was one thing Cas hated more than this apocalypse, it was looking weak in front of Dean. It was a side effect of being human apparently, and he hated it. Cas was about to pull back and try to explain the nightmare to Dean when they heard it. A scream ringing out through the entire town that sounded oddly familiar, followed by guns being fired and chaos going on outside their window. Dean practically fell off the bed, pulling Cas with him and throwing a jacket on him before picking up one for himself and grabbing the hidden gun from under his pillow.
"Cas, was this... do you know what this is about?" Dean asked as he grabbed hold of his hand and ran out the door, staying clear of the fighting in the square and making his way through the smoke-filled alleys and sidewalks.
"Only the scream. Dean, it's Sam."
"NO!" Sam's scream could be heard echoing through the whole town, Kevin was surprised that freak with the eyepatch hadn't come out yet screaming 'curfew'. But he didn't care about that at the moment. He was trying to drag Sam away from the newly-freed walkers as Charlie slashed through a couple that were reaching out to Sam and Kevin. Sam fell back down to his knees and doubled over, Kevin's arms wrapped around his waist and under his arms, holding him as tight as possible. The man was twice his size, if not more.
"Sam... we have to go... now!" That's when they heard the gunfire in the street for the first time. It was coming from the middle of the town but it sounded closer than that. They weren't the only ones making a mess of things after curfew, but they didn't have enough time to wonder what the hell was going on.
"Sam-!" Another voice came from the alley causing Sam to look up and see his brother running over to him, Cas following in tow with a gun at his side. How they managed to get that back was anyone's best guess. Once Dean saw the walkers he froze, stopping Cas from running past him and hiding him behind his back.
"What the fuck, Dean?! I can handle a few-" Cas moved from behind Dean's back to see Gabriel standing a few yards away from Sam, walking out of the cage. The cage of walkers. Gabe was a-
"No..." He whispered, Dean cursed under his breath as Cas ran past him.
"Charles. We need to get both of them out of here now so we can take care of this." Dean pulled out his knife and took out the few walkers that were getting too close to Sam, he couldn't kill Gabe in front of Sam and Cas. They needed to leave. Charlie helped Dean kill the remaining walkers, Dean losing sight of Cas in the process and blocking out his brother's screams until they were standing in the midst of about seven dead walkers at their feet. Charlie dropped her knife and wiped the blood on her jeans, hands slightly shaking and mouth open as if she were going to say something but couldn't. Gabriel was closing in on them, eyes paled over and dead, watching as Sam reached out to him crying, a curious and hungry look covering his dead expression. A look Dean wished he'd never have to see, that his baby brother would never have to see. It wasn't Gabriel, It would never be Gabriel. It was a dead body. Dean ran over to his brother and nodded to Kevin to let go of him and keep Gabe back as long as possible. He kneeled in front of Sam and put his face in his line of sight.
"I'm sorry... but it's not him. We can't do anything about that. You just need to come back with me." Sam may have been looking at his brother but he wasn't seeing him.
"Gabe... what about the Grand Canyon? What... what about anywhere? You said we could go everywhere. We can get passed this, go to Niagara, that candy factory you wanted to visit-"
"Sammy, please. That's not Gabe-"
"To hell it isn't!" Sam was inches from Dean's face, glaring at him like he was the enemy.
"Dean... we can't hold him off for long. If we're going to take care of this we need to do it now."
"No. There's got to be a cure. There has to be..." Sam tried to stand back up and get to Gabe but Dean grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him back down. "There's always a way, Dean, we always find another way out, always. That's what we do." Dean's eyes burned and he dropped his head.
"Not this time, Sam. I'm not some kind of hero, neither are you and neither is Charlie or Cas or Kevin. We may know a little more about a lot of things, but the whole world is like this now and we can't save everyone anymore. We can barely save ourselves." Sam still saw right through his brother and continued fighting against his hold. Dean looked over his shoulder to find Cas staring past them with an empty expression, clutching the gun at his side and trying to steady his hand from shaking as he lifted it. Soon everyone was yelling at each other and Dean went back to keeping Sam still.
"Dean we need to do this now-!"
"What the fuck is going on out there-?"
"We can't hold him off much longer-!"
"Where are those gunshots coming from-?"
"Let me go-!"
"He's gone-"
"No he isn't-!"
That's when the shot went off, ringing and echoing throughout the small alleyway, stopping all of them mid-sentence. Cas was standing behind Sam and Dean, his arm shaking and stretched out with a gun pointed at where Gabe used to be standing, tears streaming down his hard expression as his fingers loosened and the gun fell at his feet. It took Sam a few seconds to realize what just happened before Dean reached out and pulled him to his chest, trying to mute the scream that came out of his mouth and keep him from seeing the aftermath. That was when Sam finally let himself go under. Let himself give up and drown when he had been keeping his head inches above the water this whole time, gasping for air while there was still hope that he'd find him.
That hope was gone now.
Daryl lost sight of Rick but he didn't go searching for him through the gunfire like some kind of hero. That wasn't him. Rick would be the one to get these people out of here, they had Glenn and Maggie they just needed to get out. Michonne was keeping the Governor busy but not the Governor's army of misfits. He still hasn't found his damn brother and he wasn't leaving until he did. Rick knew that. Daryl took shelter behind a a small barricade made out of plywood and some sand bags and stray metal. Probably wasn't the best place but it was the closest. He heard yelling in the distance followed by a truck starting. They must have gotten everyone there. The plan was working, now they just need to flee and not be the sentimental bastards they are. Daryl peered over the barricade again and shot through the smoke created by the frequent gunfire, smirking proudly to himself after hearing the aftermath of his perfect aim. He kneeled back down behind the barricade to put another arrow in his crossbow when he saw a shadow running towards him from his side carrying a gun and shouting something. He pointed his crossbow at the shadow for precaution but quickly lowered it when he realized who it was. Dean fucking Winchester skid onto the ground as a few bullets flew over his head, sliding in next to Daryl behind the blockade.
"Thought I'd never see you again." He said with an emotionless smirk, his eyes were red and there was dried blood on his forehead and neck. "What is this by the way? Are you guys having a domesticated war or something, what the hell? We finally find a decent place to settle down for a few days and all this shit happens-"
"The leader of this place-" Daryl cut off to shoot over the barricade again, taking down another misfit solider in the asshole's army, "is a psychotic bitch, okay? That's all you need to know at the moment, I could use some help if you're willin'." Dean nodded, though he's never been in a war or man-on-man combat before. He's only ever killed the supernatural, but right now he just wanted to shoot something.
"Cas you need to help me get Sam back to the Impala, Kevin is getting our things from the guest house, we need to get out of here quickly and in order to do that you need to help-"
"I'm not going to run away with my tail between my legs while Dean's in the middle of whatever is going on out there-!"
"It's Dean, Cas, he'll be-"
"No. Nobody is fine anymore, Charles. Nothing about anything will ever be fine. And no one is telling me what to do when it comes to Dean anymore. He's right, he's not a hero and he needs someone to keep him in check. That's me. And I don't give a fuck what you have to say at the moment, I'd follow him to hell, and you need to get yourself, Sam, and Kevin out of here." With that Cas was gone with the gun on his belt, leaving Charlie alone in the alley with Sam clutching her jacket.
"Sam?" She asked, moving the hair out of his eyes as he sat up with an absent look in his eyes.
"Cas is right-"
"Cas is being a dick-"
"No... He's being aware. We need to get out of here." Charlie frowned at him as tears fell down his cheeks even though his expression was emotionless. She didn't know how he could pull out of this one. She didn't know how he could ever be his definition of fine again. But everyone was right, that didn't matter now, she needed to be aware of the situation.
"Okay."
They didn't have much so it wasn't hard for Kevin to grab the few bags they brought from the Impala before taking off down alleyways, away from the fighting, towards where they had left it parked at the entrance of the town. By the time he got to it Charlie and Sam were already there, arguing over something. Kevin quickly ran the rest of the way and packed the bags into the trunk before wedging himself between them and asking what the hell was going on.
"Sam wants to get our weapons back from the Governor-"
"It's not as crazy as it sounds, there is a full on war going on right now, he won't be in his house, we need those weapons if we're going to survive-"
"Sam is right, Charlie-"
"Well of course you agree you him, seeing as how this whole day you've been complaining about the weapons. Why don't you go ahead and shout 'I told you so' in my face before running off on a suicidal mission." Charlie turned away from both of them, running a hand through her hair in frustration and sitting down on the hood of the Impala. Kevin turned to Sam and looked up to see his eyes soften. He looked like hell, dried tear streaks on his cheeks along with walker blood, his eyes were bloodshot and his face held the expression of a dead man.
"We can find other weapons, Charles, you're right. We should go now, before anyone realizes we're leaving-"
"Are you guys forgetting about Dean and Cas or do you just not care?! We can't just take off and strand them here-!"
"Kevin. They're together, they can handle anything. They aren't in this war, remember, they're just trying to figure out what is going on. We won't go far, just right outside of town, far enough to keep you two safe. If they don't show up soon I will come back for them, but only me, you hear?" Everyone was acting completely irrational. Why the hell would Dean want to get involved in this mess in the first place and why was Sam so eager to leave him behind? Kevin tried to throw a punch but Sam caught his hand before it could reach his jaw.
"Kevin, after everything, you two aren't going to die in a domesticated town at the hands of humans. You are getting the hell out of here, we aren't losing anyone else-!"
"Who died and made you boss." Kevin muttered sharply and Sam let go of his hand, staggering backwards. Kevin realized his mistake seconds too late and cursed under his breath as Sam took off into the town without a weapon. It was a suicide mission. Everything added up.
All three of them were on a suicide mission.