"Have I ever mentioned how much this place sucks? 'Cause it really does suck."
Sam snickered at the complaints of his nearby brother, who hadn't at all grown used to the alienated surroundings. This snickering wasn't exactly caused by any humor present in the mood, rather a sort of wordless 'I told you so' retort.
Dean was never late to voice his 'opinions' such as these. He was always calm and collected whenever he forced Sam into his own situations, but when he himself got thrust into something completely new? Complaints. Complaints here, complaints there, complaints everywhere. Yet, he had the audacity to call Sam, of all people, the whiny bitch of the group. Hah.
"Well, Dean? What are you going to do about it?" Sam inquired as a response, stepping through the puddles of murky water below.
It did not take long for the group to traverse deep into the underground caverns, which, according to Alyx, were the only way through to White Forest. Apparently, these abandoned mines had become the perfect breeding grounds for a family of large insects known as antlions.
Antlions… These creatures were quite atrocious, as most of the wildlife in the new surroundings. Large, winged, wasp-like organisms that functioned exactly like Earthly insects, save for their incredibly large size. The beasts had to be at least a foot or two tall; when combining these features with their ability to fly and their rigid fangs, well… It was all matter of repulsive.
Still, these sizable insects were no real difficulty. Compared to demons, ghosts, shifters, and the friggin' Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Antlions were incredibly easy to kill. A couple of hits with the submachine gun Sam had received, and the creatures were down.
As the brothers and their newly acquainted companions made their way through the cavernous, dimly lit area, they continuously shot down the ant-like creatures. Antlions would crawl up to them, scrambling up with their four-legged bodies, letting out loud, raspy hisses-only to meet their tragic end seconds later. Even Sam would admit that this made a nice exercise to let out remaining anger and pent up frustration.
These caverns, which Alyx referred to as Victory Mine, were incredibly claustrophobic and tortuous. A faint blue color shined against the polished, rocky walls. Water was abundant-which was no real surprise, seeing as it was all deep underground-and there was a notable putrid humidity present in the air. Scattered about were the juvenile forms of the antlions, the remaining live ones sticking themselves to the gooey walls and making high squeaking noises whenever approached. Alyx informed them upon first entering that the larval antlions were quite harmless, as long as one didn't purposely stick their fingers inside of a larva's mouth. That, as she stated with her own words, would 'just plain hurt'.
During their descent into the caves, the woman had explained how Gordon and her knew of the area so well, and how her spectacled companion had to travel through these very areas to save her life. The larval extracts of antlions, as the female rebel worded them, apparently had otherworldly properties that could work miracles, such as bringing back the recently deceased.
While that was all very nice, Sam couldn't help but feel a little claustrophobic. The winding tunnels to travel through, combined with Dean's complaints and the overall stench in the air was getting uncomfortably close to unbearable.
Unlike his older brother, however, Sam chose not to complain. After all, this was a post-apocalyptic setting, and the brothers had already fortunately stumbled upon some allies to escort them to safety. The younger brother had to admit, if those two strangers and their robotic dog hadn't helped him out, he might not have made it out alive. Those zombies he had encountered were damn tough, too, probably even stronger than the Croatoan infected the brothers dealt with years ago.
Lead by the man known as Gordon, the group continued to battle through zombies. Everyone played their part, using guns and the occasional crowbar to take the enemies out. The only exception was DØG, who was not able to properly fit into the elevator shaft. When the mechanical canine discovered this, it appeared to have something of a simulated fit of disappointment. With Alyx's reassuring, the hefty android was coaxed into finding a way around the cave-to meet up with the group on the other side of the aboveground surface.
All of this was sailing quite steadily until an interruption. Shrill hissing was audible, much like the sound of the other antlions. While this was no surprise for Sam nor his brother, something must have been pretty urgent, as Alyx quickly grabbed the taller of the Winchesters and yanked him away from the scene.
"Look out, Sam!" she had called moments before taking hold of him. She was incredibly strong, and did an exceptional job at harshly pushing him away.
"Christ! What was that for-" Sam exclaimed, though his exasperated question was soon cut off by the vision of a bright liquid rushing towards his previous location. It splashed into the ground where he once stood, sizzling and crackling as it ate through the rocky ground below.
"It's acid." Alyx narrowed her eyes at the corrosive liquid. The vibrant, neon green substance continued to dance and flicker for a few more moments until mixing with the nearby water and diluting.
Sam winced at this.
"Sorry for the scare." the woman replied, an embarrassed expression present on her face, "That stuff's even dangerous to Gordon and his suit. I can't imagine how it'd feel without armor."
Wide-eyed, Dean watched as Sam regained his composure. The older brother stepped forth, placing a protective hand on his younger sibling's shoulder.
"You okay, Sammy?" Dean appeared to be more shocked than Sam even was.
"Uh…" the taller brother muttered under his breath, then proceeding to nod his head, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"'The hell did that come from?" Dean turned his head in the direction of where the acidic solution had originated.
Alyx frowned, shining her flashlight in the very direction Dean stared.
"Antlion workers. We sure are in luck today, aren't we?" the girl groaned.
Of course, that very statement could easily be assumed sarcastic.
"Great," Dean replied before Sam received a chance to, "How do we gank these things?"
"Aim for their heads. Be careful, they explode upon death. You're going to want to stand a good distance away from them."
Dean let out a sigh as a response to this command, "Awesome."
Ah, same old Dean. Still saying 'awesome' all of the time.
Sam kept a tight grip on his own weapon, ready to attack whenever necessary. He made it a high priority of his to stay alert. After all, he hadn't the slightest idea what would happen if he died in this place. Seeing as a night had already passed, it was easy to assume that none of this was a dream. Of course.
Considerably loud was the pattering of antlion feet. Multiple ones, though invisible, still ever present by the sound of their legs scrambling about. From a higher, humanly inaccessible point in the cave, out crawled another one of the pesky arthropods. Unlike the previously encountered specimens, however, this one considerably differentiated from the norm. Its wings were small, translucent and slightly iridescent. Also to be mentioned was the beast's head, scaled much larger than the rest of its body.
Its appearance was not incredibly important at that point, anyhow. What mattered was that more acid came tumbling from the organism's maw-the same exact liquid that had almost hit the younger brother moments ago.
Sam's older brother was the first to retaliate against this monstrous insect. His shotgun aimed right at the creature, shooting it directly in the head. The impact caused it to combust almost immediately, leaving splashes of acid all around its scattered remains.
After completing his job of shooting the vile entity, Dean made an expression of disgust. Fortunately, the expulsion of corrosive compound did not directly hit any of the survivors; it merely etched the ground, leaving textured markings of chemical decay.
"Don't tell me we're going to have to deal with these things the whole time." Dean remarked as he gawked at the insect cadaver.
Alyx hesitantly let out a chuckle, though this sounded more nervous than cheerful, "They do live around here, unfortunately. Once we're out of the mines, we should't have to deal with any more workers."
"And by shouldn't, you mean…?" the shorter, older sibling narrowed his eyes.
"Can't guarantee anything, dude." Alyx merely frowned, "There isn't much room to complain-this is all borderline apocalyptic, you know."
Dean shook his head in dismay before responding, "Right, right."
With a glance at both Alyx and her companion, one could easily tell that they'd been through a lot. Chances were, they were grief-stricken. Sam could easily relate to this, of course. Oh, how he hoped the apocalypse wouldn't result in him and Dean's homeland.
Speaking of which, what was going on back at home? Sam couldn't help but wonder this-was time still going by without the Winchesters there? Did Castiel find himself lost without the hunting duo? Did he look for them, or did the angel merely shrug it off and look for someone else to save the world?
The latter of those thoughts brought a subconscious grimace to Sam's face; he didn't want to believe that anything terrible would happen. If he was going to die, he'd die saving the world from Lucifer. No replacements were needed.
…Of course, the younger brother was forced to shake off these feelings of stress when the current situation called for his attention.
More audible hissing and the pitter-pattering of insect-like feet. More Antlions. Lovely.
Dean stepped forth, shotgun close by and prepared to take action. Seemed like he was getting the hang of things pretty quickly. Though both brothers had never been in a situation like this, it was completely safe to say they caught on fast.
If anything, it was even easier to take down a bunch of insects than it was to do so with demons. At least these things, though repulsive, didn't require anything special like holy water. Now, that was a real pain in the ass.
Armed and ready to fend for themselves, the group pressed on with their travels through the dimly lit cave pathways. Gunshot by gunshot, the crude insects were slain in their place, dropping to the ground without the slightest indication of gracefulness.
Aside from the ever-frequent shooting things and avoiding of acidic solutions, everything was working out quite fine. This was almost like another day on the job; not getting sufficient rest, not eating quite enough, being incredibly stressed out everything surrounding, plenty of horrifyingly detailed contemplations… All just another day in the life of Sam Winchester. Just add some aliens and monsters attacking the place, and it was all complete.
Conversation wasn't as open during these times, as the main focus was to survive the whole ordeal.
Everything sure was going along great, save for the few interruptions and avoiding sudden death.
…Or, at least, so Sam thought until the bittersweet peacefulness was interrupted with a blistering roar, followed by a series of light tremors in the ground.
Now, it was Alyx's turn to become infuriated and/or frustrated, as she was quick to shoot a glare in the direction of the roar, then a confused glance at Gordon.
"Goddamn it."
Dean looked at the woman with confusion and exasperation, "Goddamn what?"
The woman gave another nervous glance in the direction the rebels were heading, then proceeding to look back at Sam and his brother. The expression in her eyes told it all-she was frightened.
The strange-suited companion of Alyx took hold of her hand; though he was still apparently too shy to say anything, his facial expression was equally nervous.
Though appearing to be fearful, Alyx spoke again, in a slightly more stern voice, "We need to haul ass."
Without a chance for the Winchester siblings to question exactly what they were running from, the group sped up the pace. Cautious walking turned into something of a jog, which then transitioned into fleeing after mere seconds.
The female's raspy, exhausted voice called out as they ran.
"There's an antlion guard gaining on us! It must've heard our gunshots!"
"So," Sam replied through deep breaths as he sprinted, "What do we do, i-is there any way to gank it?"
"What does gank even-" Alyx stopped herself, rewording her sentence, "-Yeah, I don't think so. We're already running low on ammo, there won't be enough time to kill the damn thing!"
Sam took a hasty glance behind him, an action that he regretted not long after.
An incredibly large behemoth of an insect was gaining on them, galloping and ready to charge like a bull. The thing was damn huge, about the size of Alyx's robotic accomplice, if not more mountainous. Fierce, grumbling growls were let out of the so-called guard, sounds which could only be interpreted as aggression and hostility.
The worst part? It was drawing ever closer.
"…And you're sure that we can outrun this thing?" Dean demanded, still appearing eager to shoot the monstrous carapace.
"Hell if I know!" Alyx replied, likely too focused on running to consider such a possibility.
Then-what were the odds?-the group ran into what was least desired.
A dead end.
Dead.
Freaking.
End.
The alleged guard of the antlions approached, bucking its strangely-formed, hoof-like feet. It was ready to charge at any given oppurtunity.
In fact, the beast did charge. Straight at everyone, actually, galloping at an alarmingly fast pace.
Not a single moment of time was free for speech or communication. Wasn't it ironic how the quietest member of the group knew exactly what to do?
Gordon, with a strange orange gun-type weapon in hand, lifted a nearby boulder and chucked said object at the monstrous insect's head, making it come to a brief halt as it regained its composure.
Silently yet swiftly, the spectacled man ushered the other three to a nearby hole in the wall-a tunnel of sorts that had just enough space to crawl through.
If that wasn't the epitome of claustrophobic, then who knew what it was.
The miniature tunnel was filled with antlion larvae, which squirmed about, blindly unaware of the human life passing through.
Outside of this mini-tunnel was the antlion guard, who frustratedly struggled to get into the tunnel. Evidently, the tunnel was far too small for it to enter, though it continued to charge at the wall, bashing its sturdy head against the outside of the tunnel.
Now sprawled onto the ground, everyone took a moment to catch breath.
"Anyone hurt?" Sam panted, a throbbing pain now noticeable in his head.
Dean let out a groan, though one couldn't be sure if it was of frustration, aching, or a combination of both.
"Just a-okay," Alyx sighed, giving Gordon pat on the shoulder. "Assuming there's a way we can hold the thing off, it might be wise to look for an exist."
"The hell are we down here for, anyway?" Dean's palm collided with his forehead, "If your dog-thing could find another way around, why can't we?"
"He's an eight-foot tall robot that can scale mountains if he had to." Alyx raised an eyebrow
Dean fell silent afterward.
The woman scrambled to her feet into somewhat of a crouching position, quietly motioning towards a small pathway that the tunnel lead into.
Not a moment's hesitation was required for everyone to follow, in spite of being fatigued. Nothing wrong with a little exercise, right? When one was to run for their life, complaining wasn't necessary at all-there was very little time to do so, anyhow.
"Any luck?" Sam inquired, leaning towards the other two to get a glimpse at their progress. Both members of the resistance, as they called it, were working around a way through the cramped quarters.
Gordon shook his head, and Alyx replied with a, "Nope."
Sam let out a sigh as his eyes trailed over to his older brother, who appeared to be incredibly exasperated and exhausted.
"This sucks, man. Not even twenty four hours into this crap and we're going to die."
Sam frowned at Dean's pessimistic comment. "You don't know that, Dean. I mean, hell-we're still alive right now, right?"
Dean let out another noise of frustration as he pushed himself up against the tunnel walls, making a bitter face. "I bet this is Cas' fault. He probably doesn't even know we're gone."
Sam exhaled, giving a shrug of his shoulders. Truth be told, even he didn't know that. The younger brother barely knew anything about Castiel, though-Dean was always the one the angel came flying to in times of desperation.
"Maybe," the taller individual replied, "or maybe he can't reach us here. He could be looking for us. It's possible that time isn't even going by without us there."
"Psh," Dean scoffed, "like our being gone would be such a big deal. Michael and Lucifer will find other vessels and screw up the whole place before we even have a chance to get back. Just wait and see."
"Again," Sam furrowed his brows, "You still don't know that's going to happen."
Their deep conversation was interrupted by the voice of Alyx.
"Okay, guys. We found a way through."
"Great." Dean sardonically replied before Sam received a chance to respond. "C'mon, Sammy."
Sam gave a roll of his eyes as they escaped the narrow path, which ultimately lead into a larger portion of the cave.
For another long while, the rest of the group's walking went about with ease, save for the exhaustion of running. That exhaustion, of course, was just a temporary problem, but it did in fact slow the group down a bit.
A good ten or fifteen minutes passed without much complication; only the pesky smaller Antlions bothered to approach the group, as well as a few workers. This time, less guns were fired in fear of stirring everything once again. Pissing off the ginormous guards that resided in these caves wouldn't do any good.
Once the group had managed to stumble upon an elevator, Alyx let out a great sigh of relief, "This is it-this is the way up, is everyone ready?"
Sam gave a nod of his head, while Dean replied with a, "Yep."
Thus, the wonderful ascent to the highest point of the cave began. Another elevator ride which would hopefully lead the group back to the surface area.
"That was close," Alyx ran a hand through her tied-back hair, letting a sigh of relief escape her. "Thanks for the help there, Gordon."
Gordon merely gave an awkward-looking wince. Why was it that the dude always looked uncomfortable and perturbed?
Well, anyhow… What mattered at the moment was that everyone-especially Dean-was safe and ready to get back to the surface. Maybe they'd even have time for a lunch break. That'd be great, even if the older brother would complain about the lack of unhealthy food and pie.
Upon reaching the elevator's destination, Sam and the group eagerly stepped out.
…Oh. What a surprise.
"More caves?" Dean questioned impatiently, looking more pissed off than ever.
"Not exactly." Alyx grinned, looking much less frightened than she'd been before.
Dean merely stared at her, expression confused.
The woman motioned to her right, pointing an extended finger towards an area that appeared to be seemingly brighter than the rest of the cave, "Exit's just around the corner."
A grin fell upon Sam's face, looking over to his brother without needing to say a word. If anyone in the area couldn't already tell, Sam was damn relieved to get out of the suffocatingly dull caves.
Oh, how wonderful the fresh air would feel in comparison to the awful, rotten air of the caves. Even though their current situation was already somewhat terrible, at least it was about to become slightly less terrible, which was always a plus.
Alas, everything was great until yet another tremble in the rocky ground below.
The sound of ferocious roaring was audible, and the rumbling grew catastrophically as rocks began to tumblr from the ceilings, stalactites crumbling to tiny pieces. Noise grew and grew until it was almost deafening, with Sam and the others fleeing to the exit of the cave.
What an incredibly close call it was, as the team fortunately managed to escape the caves with their lives completely intact.
Another close call.
Sam let out another sigh, turning his glance to where Dean was standing next to him, "You alright, Dean?"
…
…
…
No response.
Dean was nowhere to be seen.
Sam frantically spun around, looking for the sight of his brother.
No Dean in sight, only Alyx and Gordon's stunned expressions as they came to the same realization that Sam didn't want to admit.
Dean hadn't escaped the cave-in. There was only rocks and boulders.
...Then, nothing.
"Dean!"