Dean, Castiel and Joanna roamed the buildings, heading towards the center of the arena. They had walked around for at least an hour before judging that a building within the given location would last them for a day or two again. However, they soon found themselves struggling to find a structure with no gaping holes and a functioning door somewhere within. Eventually, they were forced to separate in order to cover more ground quickly. Castiel had been the one to find the winning location and they were about to decide who would stay behind when—

"Hello boys." Crowley grinned and then turned to Joanna, "and girl, of course."

"Crowley." Dean hissed, pointing his colt at the man. "What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing in particular." He answered nonchalantly, "Well, nothing concrete."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joanna growled.

"You'll find out soon enough, love." He said.

"I don't think you understand your position." Dean said threateningly, "There's a gun pointed at you and a bullet moments away from lodging itself in your skull. You don't get to toy around the topic, you answer or you die."

"See," Crowley said, dismissing the threat, "You say that, but I've watched you in action in the arena. You don't kill, or fight for that matter, unless your adversary throws the first punch. I don't intend to do such a thing."

"You've been watching us…?" Joanna asked.

"Not you, darling." Crowley said and pointed at Dean, "Just him. And not the entire time, just a bit at the beginning, when they were travelling with that fellow from district 11."

"Benny…" Castiel mumbled.

"Right," Crowley ceded, "Anyhow, I observed, made a conclusion and then reported back to my group."

"Group?" Dean asked skeptically.

"It's more of a trio but, yes." Crowley confirmed, "Gordon and Kubrick? Remember those two?"

Dean frowned. They had had trouble with Gordon in particular though the man seemed to hate Sam more than Dean.

"Funny story on how the two came to be brothers." Crowley explained. "According to Kubrick, they share the same father but not the same mother. When their father passed away, their mothers united to raise them together or something like that."

"You befriended them." Dean said, "Why should we care?"

"Befriend—?" Crowley repeated with a loud laugh, "Far from it! I merely had to pretend to be concerned to win their favour! Well, Kubrick's, Gordon still doesn't trust me but that's just a minor detail. In the end, they're just my goons and I will dispose of them as soon as they've exceeded their usefulness."

"You're underestimating them." Joanna stated, "Sure they might not be the brightest, but that won't make them any less capable of taking you out."

"Actually, it will." Crowley concurred, "Being strong is an advantage but, with the addition of being an idiot who thinks he's smart, that cancels out the threat. Gordon is an idiot, not as stupid as his brother mind you, but an idiot nonetheless who thinks he's clever when he's only governed by emotions."

"Why did you team up with them?" Dean asked.

"Because I needed strong idiots to do my bedding." Crowley explained, "You and your brother were my first choice, but you were far smarter than I gave you credit for and the second you refused my offer, I knew you would be trouble."

"Where are you going with this?" Joanna snapped, "There has to be a point to this conversation."

Crowley looked at the sky for a moment, contemplating before looking back at the three, "I suppose enough time has passed." Crowley mused with a sinister grin, "You see, I wanted your time. While following Dean around for a bit, I concluded he wasn't as much of a threat if separated from his brother."

Dean's eyes widened at the realisation of what the confession implied.

"Gordon and Kubrick are ransacking your 'base of operations' as we speak." Crowley grinned.

"You bastard!" Dean growled, tightening his grip on the colt and threatening to pull the trigger out of rage, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!"

"Because," Crowley said, stepping aside almost as though to allow them a path, "If you run as fast as your legs can carry you, you might still make it in time to save one of them."

The reason seemed valid enough and inspired a small tingle of hope within Dean as he dashed down the street desperately. Perhaps he had been foolish to believe Crowley but he had to try to save Sam. He was his last family and, if he died, he would literally have nothing to live for anymore.

"Don't worry. They'll be fine." Gabriel said, resting a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder.

"I hope so." Sam said, clenching his fists.

They retreated back to the room, helping Garth to his feet and supporting him while Kevin packed away their belongings. He rolled the cot, shoved it in his duffle bag but ditched the open food that laid around the room. It only took them a few short minutes to get completely ready and now they had to wait for Dean and the others to return.

"So," Garth said after a moment, "How have you guys been doing so far?"

"You mean before we met up with you?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Garth said.

"I'd say decently well." Sam admitted, "We all got into fights with other tributes though we never lost so far."

"What about you?" Garth asked, looking at Gabriel.

"Oh, I don't fight." He quickly dismissed.

"Yeah, so I heard Dean say…" Kevin said slowly, "Why?"

Gabriel was about to answer their question and give them the speech he had given Sam and Joanna roughly two days ago when he decided against it. Sam couldn't really tell why though it almost seemed like he wanted to keep it secret. Sam would never really know why. "I'm a pacifist." Gabriel said and Kevin and Garth didn't think to question the statement.

They remained quiet for a couple more minutes when they heard people entering the ground floor. Kevin and Garth sighed in relief, assuming Dean, Castiel and Joanna had already returned with a new destination in mind but Sam and Gabriel knew better.

"Looks like we're going to—"

"Shh!" Sam hissed, unsheathing his knife as he crept towards the stairwell. There was silence on the other end until whoever it was took a step to climb the stairs and triggered the second alarm. The tribute cursed and Sam immediately knew they were in danger. "Shit!"

He moved back quickly to the others and gestured them to follow his lead as quietly as possible. There was no time for explanations though the grave expression on Sam provided the details necessary. They followed him quietly to a neighbouring room with two different doors. Sam and Gabriel were each stationed at an entrance, peaking to see by which ends the tributes would come. Sam spotted them first, freezing upon seeing Gordon and Kubrick.

"Damn it." He whispered to himself.

They needed to get out of the building as fast and quietly as possible without getting caught. And so, they stealthily moved from room to room, and kept an eye on the whereabouts of the others until they made it to the stairwell. Sam gestured Kevin and Garth to go down first while he kept watch. Gabriel peaked over his shoulder, standing by his side regardless of the danger.

"We're not going to lose them." Gabriel whispered.

"I know." Sam responded, "But we need to buy time to think of a plan."

They observed as Gordon and Kubrick changed rooms again. This time, Sam noticed Gordon was carrying a sword and had some coiled barbwire hanging off his hip. Kubrick, on the other hand, wielded a metal stake and carried the duffle they had found. Once they disappeared out of sight, Gabriel and Sam sneaked down the stairs, joining Kevin and Garth outside.

"What do we do?" Kevin asked breathlessly.

"We need to find a place to hide, fast." Sam said.

"No!" Garth protested, "We need to fight them!"

"We can't right now!" Sam snapped, "We can't be reckless about this or else we'll die. Gordon's pretty strong and insane so we might as well increase our survival rate by being smart."

Sam and Gabriel quickly shoved them into a building across the street and just in the nick of time at that because Kubrick had peered out one of the windows curiously. Luckily, he hadn't seen them but it had generally been too close for comfort. As it was, Gordon and Kubrick would likely search the building top to bottom which would give them some time to distance themselves and find a strategic place to hide. And yet, Sam hesitated to do so since it could mean losing Dean somewhere in the arena and never seeing him again.

"We need to move." Gabriel reminded him.

Sam paused, peering back out the window to the building before looking back at the group. "Okay." He sighed.

They walked to the other end of the building and found that the entire east wall had crumbled. They made their way over the rubble and ventured south, using the buildings as cover. Once they'd crossed a couple of streets, they began moving west seeing as the opposite direction would lead them to the force field. They travelled for a couple of minutes, keeping their guards up and remaining as vigilant as possible in case of a surprise attack.

However, rather than meeting with Gordon and Kubrick, they crossed paths with Dean, Castiel and Joanna. Castiel had been the one to see them whereas the other two and run across the street at full speed, barely paying them any attention.

"Dean!" Castiel called repeatedly until the other stopped running, "They're right here!"

Dean soon popped around the corner he had run and looked at the direction Castiel had been gesturing. His relief was evident regardless of the distance separating them and they quickly made their way to the rest of the group. Sam and Dean shared a brief hug before explaining what had happened. Dean related the meeting and conversation with Crowley while Sam explained how they managed to escape undetected.

"I'm glad you're safe." Dean sighed. "We need to g—"

"Gordon!" they heard Crowley's voice echo through the empty city, "You dolt! They're two streets down from you! How did you let them escape!?"

Their blood froze and yet they had no time to waste away in fear. Gordon was coming and they would have to fight him. It was as Gabriel had said, there was no way they could escape him anymore. They quickly rushed into a building, climbing the stairs to the third floor where they were forced to come up with a plan.

"Crowley's unarmed from what we saw." Joanna explained.

"Gordon has a sword," Sam said, "Plus some barbwire for some reason."

"And Kubrick has these metal stakes." Gabriel finished.

"Alright, so there's a chance I can just shoot them dead." Dean concluded.

"I don't think it'll be that simple." Castiel said.

"Well, let's try it out—"

Dean ran to the window facing the streets and readied his colt. He finally looked out and saw Crowley standing in the street, greeting Gordon and Kubrick as they emerged from another building and gesturing them to his location. He took in a deep breath and shot two rounds in their direction. Crowley jumped back, startled by the shots whereas Gordon had seemingly seen them coming and shoved Kubrick out of the way before dodging as well. He glared at him and dashed towards their edifice, the bullets Dean shot missing their target.

"Okay…" he said, returning to the group. "That failed."

Steps echoed in the stairwell. "They're coming!" Kevin said in horror.

"Gabriel and Cas," Sam said quickly, "Get Kevin and Garth somewhere safe. We'll take care of them."

Castiel and Gabriel quickly did as they were told while Sam and Joanna readied themselves for a confrontation. They were placed on either side of Dean who had his gun already aimed towards the stairwell and was ready to shoot as soon as he saw either Gordon or Kubrick. Gordon's head popped up first and though Dean reacted as rapidly as he could, the former had still managed to dodge and climb the stairs. When Kubrick appeared, he managed to nick his shoulder with a bullet but nothing more. The two men had managed to find cover next to the entrance just as Dean ran out of rounds.

"You are just a bunch of cowards!" Gordon spat from his cover, "Hiding behind a gun! Where's the honour in that?"

"Who cares about honour!?" Joanna snapped, "We want to keep living and if you brought a sword to a gun fight, that's your problem."

Dean had hastily attempted to reload his colt before Gordon realised what he was up to but hadn't been fast enough. Gordon jumped out of his cover and dashed towards Joanna, swinging his sword. She had managed to block the blow with her spear but the force of the impact had snapped the weapon in halves. She leapt back, dodging more swings as best as she could before she was promptly knocked against the wall. Gordon then began attacking Dean who had managed to intercept his swings with his machete. The difference in power was particularly grand and Dean found a certain difficulty in not dropping his weapon what with the force of each blocked impact.

Before Sam could react to assist his brother, Kubrick had jumped out to assist Gordon and threw one of his metal stakes. He barely managed to dodge the metal object before Kubrick tackled him to the ground. Sam's hand slammed violently against the ground, injuring his wrist and causing him to drop his weapon. He struggled with Kubrick, fighting through the pain and using his injured hand to defend himself. However, Kubrick found that it was principally easy to best Sam in their given situation and was just about to plunge a stake into his head when Joanna intervened.

She stabbed her broken spear through his neck, watching him gurgle blood for a brief moment before tugging him off Sam. They were just about to assist Dean when Gordon backed off, creating a gap between he and the three. He quickly assessed the situation, noting his dead half-brother on the ground before turning back to them. Strangely enough, he showed no signs of rage. Rather, Gordon playfully twirled his sword in his hand and grinned sickeningly.

"This is turning out to be more fun than I expected!" he smirked and dashed towards them.

The bold action was surprising, even more so when Dean, Sam and Joanna realised that, though he was outnumbered, Gordon was still a serious threat. He swung his sword widely, dispersing the three just enough to be able to focus on Dean briefly. He swung again, Dean blocking with his machete though quickly losing balance upon being shoved away. Sam and Joanna had attempted to deliver a lethal blow as he did so but Gordon ducked and spun as he kicked their feet from beneath them. Sam fell over, hitting his head harshly against the concrete and barely reacted in time when he saw Gordon loom above him, ready to stab his weapon into his face.

Sam rolled aside, narrowly missing the blow and tried to kick at Gordon's feet though the latter avoided the contact and swung again. Then, he was forced to change his focus as Dean came at him from behind. He grabbed his wrist just before the machete's blade could reach his flesh and nailed his knee into his stomach, winding Dean. The latter keeled over, allowing Joanna to try her luck again though she ended in, relatively, the same state as Dean.

Finally, Gordon turned back to Sam who, due to the heavy blow he had suffered upon smashing his head on the floor, was severely disoriented and struggling to stand. The violent tribute swung his sword vertically and though Sam avoided the potentially lethal blow, he fell onto the ground again. Things would have ended there if Garth hadn't appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He snatched the coiled barbwire from Gordon's hip and quickly used it to choke him. The sharp ends cut through both of their flesh though the damage being inflicted on Gordon was much more important.

Gordon, too surprised and dumbfound to react rationally, seemed bested. Garth held on tightly, grunting in pain as the wire cut through his hands though never letting go. And just when Gordon seemed to be done for, he clenched his sword and stabbed Garth through the stomach. Blood sputtered from his mouth as the blade was retracted and he fell to the floor. Kevin, who had been watching from the doorway, shrieked in horror and ran to his brother's side. Though Gordon was weakened by the nearly fatal attempt on his life, he was strong enough to shove Kevin aside as he desperately tried to breathe and untangle the barbwire from his throat.

However, Sam didn't give him the chance. Something akin to a rush of adrenaline motivated him to stand correctly and resume what Garth had been unable to finish. He grabbed the wire, clutching at it tightly and pulled with all his might. Gordon didn't have the time to react for, due to the force Sam had been using, it cut through his neck and would have beheaded him if he hadn't had a spine. Thus his lifeless corpse fell to the ground, followed by Sam who was utterly exhausted.

As things quieted down, three canon shots were fired and Kevin's sobs were made audible. Sam slowly shifted his gaze to the boy who wept, a hand tangled in Garth's bloodstained shirt. The sight was desolating and painful. Eventually, he crawled to Kevin's side and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I-I should have done something…" Kevin hiccupped, "But I just watched…Why did I just watch…?"

Sam pulled him into a side hug, "Hey…" he cooed softly, "It's okay…it wasn't your fault…"

"Yes it was…" Kevin sobbed, "He was way weaker than me and he still tried to do what I couldn't do. I should have—it should have been me! He-he'd be alive if I…"

"Kevin…" Joanna said, her voice sounding a tad hoarse, "There's nothing you could have done."

Kevin almost wanted to argue with Joanna. He wanted to tell her she was wrong and that he could have done what Garth had failed to do without dying if he had had the backbone. But he didn't because, if anyone understood how helpless and horrible he felt, it was Joanna. She had gone through virtually the same thing with her brother and though she hadn't seen Ash die, she had been taunted with his death by his killer. And so Kevin stayed quiet, sobbing instead.

Eventually, they helped Kevin to his feet and lead him out of the building. Joanna walked with him for the rest of the day until they found a different building to set themselves in. Rather than settling on the second floor, the group moved to the fourth floor out of extra precaution. Balthazar, who had neglected to send them a gift at the beginning of the day, sent them one just as they settled in. the box contained first aid tools and medicine to bandage Sam's head and hands and prevent anyone's wounds from infecting. Gabriel had been in charge of bandaging the wounded. When he finished with Sam, his hands lingered on him for an instant as he said:

"For a moment there, I thought you would die…"

"Why didn't you help…?" Sam asked quietly regardless of the fact he already knew the answer.

Gabriel smiled bitterly, "For a moment…I didn't know what was keeping me from running to you." He admitted, "And a part of me wishes I had…but it wouldn't have changed anything because I wouldn't have fought…instead, I would have taken the blow for you."

"Don't do that." Sam said softly though it came out more as a plea, "Don't ever throw yourself to Death for me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you did…"

"And I wouldn't be able to live myself if I didn't…" Gabriel stated, his bitter smile fading, "It seems we've reached an impasse…"

"I wouldn't really call it that." Sam said, retracting his hands.

"Neither would I." Gabriel agreed, "But I have no better word for it at the moment…"

Their pointless conversation ended as such. They turned their gazes to Kevin who had stopped crying and was staring emptily at the space in front of him. He was clearly deep in thought and Joanna seemed to sympathise as she sat by him and watched him intently. Sam looked at Dean, who was talking with Castiel in an opposite corner of the room, and stared at him quietly.

A new fear began to develop and make his heart throb painfully. Kevin and Joanna were so strong. They managed to keep moving regardless of the fact that their brothers had died brutally. Sam admired them and wished he could be capable of such strength and perseverance. However, the truth was, if Dean ever died, Sam would surely kill himself.