Sam and Dean ran in total darkness. They had no idea what was up ahead – and didn't particularly care; their only concern was putting themselves anywhere that the fire monster wasn't. After five minutes of competing in the blind wacky races the inevitable happened. A low hanging stalactite smacked Dean straight in the face and he toppled over like a cartoon bowling pin.

Sam, barely able to catch a breath and carrying a hysterical 12-year-old in the pitch dark, had heard the thud, but had absolutely no idea his brother was laying prone just ahead of him. He went down like a sack of shit as soon as his right boot caught Dean's torso. It was sheer luck that he didn't crash into the invisible stalactite that had taken Dean out.

Billy went flying out of his arms; landing with a splash half in and out of a shallow puddle just up ahead. Sam's empty arms stretched out in front of him as he fell, badly scraping both wrists and palms against the stony ground. His right hip and elbow snagged against jagged rocks and the sharp shiver of pain brought tears to his eyes. Shocked and blind, it took Sam a second or two to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Hearing Billy cry out for him, Sam was tempted to rush straight to the boy, but far more worryingly his brother hadn't made a sound when Sam's boot had kicked him. He called out to Dean, voice hoarse. A sickening wave of fear washed over him when no response came back. At least whilst Billy was crying it meant he was alive, conscious and able to feel pain.

Dean, on the other hand...

Sam sightlessly dragged himself back towards the way they had come from, using his burned, skinned hands to scrabble around to find his brother. As he shifted his weight, something crunched underneath his jeans pocket. His cell phone was in pieces; the glass and plastic had shattered when he hit the hard stony floor. Sam pulled the biggest fragments out, threw them to one side, and carried on crawling.

His right arm brushed against the rough sole of a boot, and he quickly, expertly, travelled his fingers up Dean's body, feeling for obvious injuries as he went. No compound fractures or bloody wet spots met his touch. When he reached Deans face, he pulled himself up so that he could rest an ear against his brother's mouth. There were definite breath sounds. Ragged, but regular. Gently running a hand over his brother's sticky, blooded face, Sam was sure Dean's nose and right eye socket were fractured.

Shit. What to do, what to do? He could have cried with frustration. How could he drag Dean, Billy and himself through utter darkness whilst avoiding a fire-possessed Crowley who was only minutes behind them? He needed a damn miracle.

Currently running low on those, he had to settle for trying to wake his brother up instead.

"Dean, Dean please wake up. DEAN!" He allowed the whine of desperation in his voice, knowing that if anything was going to bring Dean around, it was the knowledge his little brother needed him. "Dean, I know you're hurt, but you have to wake up! C'mon man, please!" After what felt like several decades of begging Dean finally stirred. "That's it Dean, that's it..." He reached under his brother and sat him upright.

"We still here?" Dean's voice was nasal and wet, and he spat out a wad of blood. "Aargh, Jesus fucking Christ Sammy, my skull feels like it's been through a meat grinder."

"Yeah, I think you broke your face." Sam's intense relief at Dean being back in the land of the living increased his light-headedness. "Sorry bro, but you might have to finally hang up your male modelling card if we make it out of here alive." Sam helped Dean to stand, both of them swaying like drunks. Dean was obviously struggling.

"Uh, Sam…minor problem here. Feels like something in my knee might have got twisted as I fell…"

"Can you put any weight on it?"

"That's kind of a no?"

Sam rolled his eyes, glad Dean couldn't see him. "At least on the plus side, you can't smell the stench with a broken nose."

"Ha-ha Sam. Excuse me whilst I laugh myself into a coma." Barely supporting his brother's weight, Sam helped Dean get a move on, picking their way towards the kid's cries.

Sam felt around for the boy, finally dragging him up out of the puddle. Billy screamed and wriggled, crying 'I think I broke my arm!'

Seriously? Could this day get any worse?

Without being able to see how bad the break was, Dean took his damp flannel shirt off and wrapped it around Billy's shoulder and arm as a makeshift sling. It would have to do…what other choice did they have?

Huddled together, they sloshed and limped through puddles, boots and hearts heavy. This time they took the pace a lot more slowly.

Sam gradually became convinced he could see water close ahead. The cave was wide, he still couldn't see the sides, but yes, there was definitely water in front of them. It shouldn't be possible to see the glimmering – there was no light down here. Unless…

"Dean!"

They whirled around, Sam's heart in his throat.

Crowley was lit up like the fourth of July. He stumbled towards them relentlessly, glowing like a beacon. The heat coming off him was tremendous, and Sam wondered if the demon was still alive in there.

As quickly as they could, which was actually pretty damn slowly, they backed up away from the creature. They were losing ground fast as the fire-monster-demon rapidly gained on them.

Concussed, unable to walk unaided and knowing he was slowing the others down, Dean did the only thing available to him. He shoved Sam away. "Get out of here Sam – MOVE IT!"

"What..? No way!" An incredulous Sam was back at his side in an instant.

"I mean it Sam, take the kid and RUN!" Dean's voice rasped with blood.

"Absolutely not Dean!"

"DAMMIT SAMMY!" Dean was angry and desperate. He shoulder-barged Sam hard, falling to his knees as he did so.

Sam's boots slid on the wet surface as he was pushed. He cartwheeled three or four steps backwards before his left foot found no purchase at all; the ground had disappeared from under him. The next thing Sam knew he was falling into deep, ice cold water. He instinctively gasped, pulling the shockingly cold liquid into his lungs. Thousands of sharp needles pressed against his skin as he kicked out and upwards, choking up water as he broke the surface.

Sam trod water, stunned at finding himself in an underground lagoon. He was maybe two feet away from the rocky edge that his brother and Billy stood at. Thanks to the reflective surface, and the blinding light shining off Crowley, he could see the lake was vast and reached out further than he could swim in one sitting.

There was literally nowhere for them all to go to escape Crowley, except into the water. And there were so, so many things wrong with that idea. Even if there was some kind of island hidden out there, Dean couldn't use his leg to swim, and the kid wasn't paddling with a broken arm. As much as he might want to, Sam simply could not swim to safety whilst dragging two people behind him. They were effectively trapped between being burned to death by a fire-monster, or drowning in an ice-cold lake.

Deciding to make a fiery last stand alongside his brother, Sam heavily pulled himself out of the water, clothing and boots drenched. As he went to stand, Crowley's fiery light highlighting Dean's crouching form, a vision knocked him straight back down onto his ass.