"Sam, I don't like this plan," Dean whispered exasperatedly.

"Yeah I heard you the last five times," Sam replied looking out the small-boxed window of the first floor lobby door, searching for any wandering demons. "Now are you sure the cafeteria is on the first floor?"

"For the hundredth time, yes!"

"Okay, then…"

"Sammy, are you sure about this? Your leg is still pretty messed up," Dean protested concerned, not liking the way Sam held himself. He knew Sam wouldn't admit it, but he could tell his abdomen and leg were in excruciating pain with the way he was slightly hunched over and only applying weight to the one leg.

Sam gave him a disapproving look. "I'm fine," he said through clenched teeth, frustrated at the way Dean eyed him like he was going to break any second. But he couldn't really blame his brother, because no matter how hard he was trying to conceal his pain, the mask still managed to slip off. "Besides there's nothing we can do for it now. So let's just get through this, and then we'll take care of it. Deal?"

Dean sighed reluctantly, "Deal."

"Rock salt ready?"

"Ready as it's gonna be," Dean grumbled lifting his gun in the air.

"On three," Sam lifted the handle. "One…two…three!"

They burst through the double doors with their weapons held out. As soon as they saw it was clear, they began to run, building up their speed, leaping over the fallen obstacles in the halls. They passed the front entrance where they slain the two homeless vampires, and passed the Emergency ward. So far no demons had seen them, which wasn't part of the plan.

"Come on you slimy bastards," Dean yelled at the top of his voice, "Come and get us!"

Ringing the dinner bell always worked. Carrying on through the many hallways heading towards their goal, Dean searched left and right, curious that the horde of demons they expected hadn't shown.

"You bunch of cowards! Hello! We're right here!"

That must've done the trick, because a second later the passé of Lucifer's henchmen showed up behind them. The many who appeared raised out shouts and calls, alerting the others that the main targets have been found. The boys now ran faster. The plan was now in play.

"Dean where is it?" Sam asked frantically, as they passed a sign he knew they passed by earlier.

"I think it's up here on the left."

Just then a blond-haired patient jumped out from a corner ahead of them. Dean had only a second to react, and he knocked the man down with two hits from the butt end of his shotgun.

"You think or you know?" They reached the end and turned left, but were disappointed when it turned out to be another hallway labeled Cardio.

"Dean!"

"What? I said I thought it was," Dean retaliated. "Maybe it's up here?"

"You better be right," Sam warned him, his attitude rising mainly due because the sharp flare of pain in his leg was beyond the point of debilitating, and his toes felt like they were on fire. He pushed past that and continued on. A loud shriek reached his ears, and suddenly a longhaired brunette ran out from another corner ahead of them. Sam aimed his shotgun and blasted her off her feet.

"This way," Dean stopped looking at a hallway to the left, "No…wait, this way," he quickly changed his mind, turning rapidly to the right.

"Make up your damn mind!" Sam scowled at him breathless.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"

"You don't have a clue where you're going, do ya?"

"Yes I do. It's up here Sammy. You'll see."

And lo and behold he was right. The big sign for the cafeteria came into view, and the boys breathed a sigh of relief upon entering the enormous room. The parade of demons wasn't far behind them, so they had to act fast. As soon as the doors burst forward and the demons followed through, the boys took off towards the back of the kitchen area. They passed the main cooking station heading towards any of the large storage units.

A pair of steel doors loomed in front of them. They rammed headlong into the doors, and were surprised to see it was a huge storage room with no other forms of exit. Sam took one look up at the ceiling and smiled. Swiftly, he and Dean hid behind the doors, while the mass of demons fled into the room, running in as far as the back. Once they were sure the last demon ran into the room, Dean lit up one of the firecrackers and tossed it at one of the sprinklers.

Upon hearing the noise, the demons turned around and spotted the two leaping from out behind the doors and closing them in, the sound of a huge lock being set in place. The firecracker went off, and the sprinkler system was engaged. Horrible shrieks and hisses issued from the vessels' mouths as their bodies were beginning to sizzle and burn from the blessed water showering overtop of them. Sam and Dean watched as all the demons ran back and forth frantically, pounding into the door.

The two hunters applied their weight into the doorframes, making sure the locks remained secure and the demons didn't bust out. The human hosts screamed and slammed against the steel. Sam had to grit his teeth against the piercing melody. After a few minutes, the slaps and pounds decreased in intervals as all the demons fell unconscious once the sprinklers turned off. The boys took that as their time to leave.

They had just passed the cutlery station when Sam felt a terrible pain struck up in his side. He grabbed onto the wall. His face was stark white. The nausea and dizziness he pushed back during the chase came back with a vengeance. His stomach roiled and he couldn't fight it anymore. Dean was about to ask if he was alright when Sam promptly rushed over to a nearby trashcan, shoved off its top, and heaved his guts up. Dean quickly met up with him, softly patting his back, offering reassurances, as Sam heaved a second time.

Spitting out the awful taste, Sam straightened back up panting heavily wiping the bile off his lips. He felt incredibly light-headed. His legs were beginning to buckle.

"Dean I gotta stop a second. I have to stop," he gasped squeezing his eyes shut from the blurriness.

Dean's concern escalated past the point of anxiety-ridden. "Here," he gently grasped his brother's shoulders and led him to a wall, helping him slide down. "Take it easy for a bit."

Sam exhaled, resting his head on his knees, allowing his arms to flop to the sides.

Dean slid his sweaty bangs to the side of his face, now noticing the pools of sweat seeping freely down his face. "How do ya feel?" He knew it was a stupid question to ask, considering Sam looked like his whole body was painful, but he had to know.

Sam lips quivered. He spoke through clenched teeth. "It feels like my insides are on fire," he balled his hands into fists to try and control the tremors in his arms.

"Hang on Sammy, I'll be right back," Dean told him, wandering off to the rest of the kitchen. He searched helter-skelter through all the cabinets trying to find some form of painkiller. None would make themselves known. Spotting a colossal sized fridge, he decided to take his chances and opened it, grimacing at the bright light it gave off. He searched its contents, but found no source of medicine. He searched some more and found to his liking an unopened Gatorade bottle. Thinking that will have to do, he instantly grabbed at it, smirking at the image of the Waterboy scene that played in his head. Water sucks, it really really sucks! Water sucks, it really really sucks…sucks!

Whilst grabbing a towel that hung over the sill of a sink, he ran back to his brother, who still had his head resting on his knees.

"Here we go Sammy, drink this," he unscrewed the cap.

Sam lifted his head and raised his eyebrows at the bottle. "Purple?"

"Oh waahh. Shut up and down it," he pressed the bottle into his hands.

Sam shakily took a few sips, before lowering it back to the ground.

Dean shook his head. "No. No. Drink a little bit more than that," he urged.

"I'm fine Dean."

"No you're not. You're exhausted. Make me happy and drink at least half that, okay?"

"Yes, dad," Sam groused, bringing the bottle back to his lips.

Dean snorted bringing the towel to his forearm, and wiping off the blood from the rip that never seemed to clot. He sat down across from Sam.

After another long gulp from the salty liquid, Sam relaxed some more, stretching his legs out before him. That's when Dean noticed a large dark stain on Sam's shirt. He slid over to him and asked to lift his shirt. Not waiting for his brother's answer, he raised it up ignoring the particularly large hiss Sam gave, revealing a large blood spot.

Dean cringed at seeing his brother's discomfort. "It looks like some of your stitches broke. You still feeling okay?"

"Not with you poking around. Get off," Sam seethed trying to push his shirt back down.

Dean fought off his hands, folding the towel he held before, and pressing it to the spot.

"Sorry Sammy," he apologized when Sam groaned, "But we gotta stop it from bleeding."

"I'll do it," Sam declared moving Dean's hand away, and resting his head against the wall. He could feel his eyes beginning to droop.

"You wanna take a nap?"

Dean's statement brought him out of his reverie. "What? No. I'll sleep when I die."

"That's not funny."

"Oh come on, it's a little funny."

"How's the leg?"

Sam groaned again. "Don't ask."

The cafeteria door opened. Both brothers jerked at the sound. Cautious, Dean pulled himself to his feet, staying low to the ground. "Stay here," he whispered to Sam, before standing up and moving forward.

He came out of the kitchen area into the seating area where he saw the phlebotomist David, standing beside the vending machine a few feet away. Believing that it might be a demon, Dean took a step back. He froze when the kid turned his way and smiled.

"David?"

The kid's smiled widened. "Guess again." With a wave of his arm, Dean felt his body sling backwards, toppling over a table and falling achingly into the mess of chairs.

In a blur, the demon was by his side, picking him up by his leg and tossing him again. This time he didn't land on a table, but a utensil station conveniently located in the middle of the room. He sat up in a daze. His bicep stung terribly. He looked down and saw that a silver fork had punctured the skin, a fine trickle of blood oozing from the spikes. As quickly as he could, he took it out, and waited for the demon to stalk after him.

Glancing up he saw David nowhere in sight. Frightened, he tensed holding the bloody fork as a makeshift weapon. The sound of breathing was to the left of him. His head whipped to the side to see David kneeling beside him. The kid swung his fist and Dean felt his back collide with the floor again. He sat up to see David on the other side of him. Instantly, he made a stabbing motion with the fork at the boy's shoulder, but the demon caught his wrist. Dean gritted his teeth at the power of the grip. He cried out in pain when David twisted his arm, forcing him to drop the fork.

"You know none of this would be necessary if you and your brother would just give up," the demon said, twisting his wrist some more, where Dean was sure it was bound to break any second. He gasped in pain, not willing to give up.

"You're pathetic," the demon insulted. "You and your brother. Which, where is he by the way?"

"Right behind you," a shallow voice called out.

The demon instantly turned and was met with a face full of wood. The chair Sam held in his hands shattered on impact causing the kid to fall away. Sam chucked away the remainder of the chair and bent down to help his brother up. Only the demon had already flown to his feet and was behind him.

"Sam, look out!" Dean yelled out.

Sam heeded his brother's warning by throwing out a fist. David countered it by catching the fist in his palm, where he proceeded to catapult the youngest Winchester over its head. Sam landed with a loud crack on his side, exhaling out a pained breath. Looking up, he wasn't surprised to see the demon eying him with torturous desire. David then picked him up and raised his fist.

Sam tried to fight by throwing a couple of punches, but the fiend overpowered him, slamming his fist into his stomach and across his face. The hits fazed him. He was unable to concentrate. The pain was too much. The demon finally stopped by kicking him off his feet.

The demon stood overtop of him smiling at his triumph. It was obvious with his body language that he was gloating, impatient at the idea of wanting to be the one victorious. Intent on finishing the job, he took a step forward, but was suddenly tied down as two powerful arms wrap underneath the host's armpits.

Dean knew what the demon's main purpose was. And with Sam in plain sight weak as he was, he might as well butter himself up and put an apple in his mouth. Careless for his own safety, he lunged forward, hooking his bulky arms underneath David's and holding him tight. The demon squirmed in his hold, kicking out and screaming. Trying to maintain a hand on the sucker was costly, he was wondering how long he could keep him contained. David thrashed more and Dean knew for certain that he wasn't going to hold onto for thirty seconds, let alone long enough for Sam to draw a devil's trap or spout off an exorcism. The only way they could get rid of this menace now was…Ah damn. No, I can't allow it. The angels might kill him. His grip on the demon lessened and it almost broke free. Fuck it. Let them try!

"Do it Sammy! Your powers!" He cried.

Sam lifted himself up on his elbows, confused at what Dean was saying. "Huh?"

The demon's feet launched in the air flailing in a bicycle motion. Dean cringed at the strain this tactic put on his tired muscles. "Use them. Now!"

"Dean?"

"DO IT!"

Totally compliant and yet terrified at the same time, Sam stood up to his full height, glowering at the two of them. It wasn't easy conjuring his power. The hardest part was giving in, fearing that loss of control. But now with Dean on his side, he focused. The light inside his soul lit up, and grew in brightness. Volumes of his dormant power woke once he concentrated and spread throughout his frame in waves, growing in intensity. Closing his eyes, he directed most of the energy he felt burst towards his hand. Lifting his palm like he has done so many times before, he unleashed his demon-given talent.

Almost instantly the demon in his brother's arms stopped squirming and began to cough. His gagging increased in force followed by tufts of demon smoke. It wasn't long before a long steady stream poured from the kid's mouth and the floor branded indicating the bastard's banishment back to the hotbox.

The phlebotomist fell limp in Dean's arms. Relieved, Dean gently lowered him to the ground, patting his shoulder. "Hang in there buddy." He stumbled over to his brother who appeared more dazed than he was a few minutes ago. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Sam gasped, swaying on the spot.

"Whoa easy there Van Damme," Dean quipped grabbing onto his shoulder. "You sure you're alright?"

Sam nodded when the swaying stopped.

"Good," he tugged on his shirt leading him away from the ruckus. He was completely astonished the work was done so quickly, and equally bewildered at his own actions of allowing it to happen, especially regarding the consequences. But for a fraction of a second, he was proud of his little brother. He turned to him. "Ya did good," he praised. Quickly he scooped up David.

Sam smiled meekly.

They left the cafeteria. Dean continually eyed Sam, worried as hell. The job wasn't over. Sam appeared peaky, but could hold his own…somewhat.

The duo set of doors had just closed when an unearthly explosion occurred in the recently vacant room causing the boys to fly forward onto their stomachs. David's limp body rolled away into a nearby patient room. Regaining their composure, they swiped at the smoke and ashy debris peering back to see the cause of the explosion. Through the rapidly swinging doors, they saw Rufus walking through the fire and smoke inside the cafeteria, carrying a bottle of chemical.

Scrambling to their feet, they took off as fast as their sore feet allowed. Another blowout occurred, causing one of the swinging doors to fly off its hinges. The loosened door soared across the clearing and plowed into Dean's back. He screamed out in pain falling to the floor in a heap. Rufus, now empty-handed, exited the cafeteria and continued to march towards them with a determined purpose.

Dean couldn't move. He laid on the ground prone position believing he was paralyzed, either that or incredibly stunned. He decided to go with the latter as Sam pulled him to his feet, wrapping his lanky arm around his waist and half-carrying him away. Something heavy soared over their head, crashing into the adjacent wall.

Something else flew and before Sam had the time to duck, it clunked him in the back of his head. He didn't have time to deal with it, because he presumed the badass demon behind them telekinetically was throwing objects at them. Sam picked up his pace, tightening his hold on Dean, biting his tongue in resistance to the throb now pulsating in his skull. Still managing to dodge the objects zooming at them from all sides, Sam searched all around for a room to hide in. But the demon was so close behind, there was no way they could lose him. The only option left was to fight him head on. Sam smiled. No problem.

Coming upon another set of double doors, Sam took his chance to go in there. He helped push Dean through into a large darkened room.

The demon rushed forward when he saw the two hunters disappear behind a pair of doors. Careless of the rule of thumb to never follow a fox into it's den, he burst through the doors. He stopped when he saw how dark it was, but given the dim outline from the objects stationed inside, he saw it was a surgical unit. Hmmm, how fitting, he thought delightfully. Scanning the entire room, he saw there were three sets of alternate doors wide-open located on three out of the four walls. The Winchesters could easily have escaped through any one of those. But the demon knew they were still lurking around somewhere in that room: he could still smell their sweat and blood.

"Come now, there's no time for hide and seek," he said to the darkness.

Silence greeted him.

Not surprised, he continued, "Saaaammmm," he called out, as he would to tease a child. "Deeaaaann. There's no point. You know I will find you. And no doubt peel the flesh off your bones, part by part. Doesn't that sound like fun? Unless of course, you come out willingly, then I'll make it quick."

Again, nothing but an eerie stillness masked the room.

"Hmmm, no takers. Fine. Then I will come to you," he declared strutting around to the various cabinets. He swung open the doors, slamming them shut when he found no humans. He was about to reach the fifth set of cabinets on the far side of the room, when the doors all around the room began to slam shut one by one.

Alerted, the demon smiled nervously realizing his enemy had some moves. "So Sam, I see you have had some practice." He backed up alarmed when the main surgery table located in the middle of the room skidded over to the side. "Okay, a lot of practice."

The demon stood his ground not willing to show he was scared. Angrily he yelled, "I swear Winchester if you play any games, I will find your brother and tear him apart slowly, give him a reminder of what Hell was like. In fact I will do that to every single person left in this building, including the children," he threatened, searching frantically in the darkness, completely unaware of Sam standing behind him.

"I'd like to see you try," Sam replied dangerously.

Terrified, the demon whipped around raising his arm to use its power, but was too slow before Sam overpowered him and telekinetically lifted him in the air. The demon hung suspended. Sam flexed out his fingers, and the man's appendages followed suit, appearing strung up like he was an offering to King Kong.

Rufus's eyes swelled with trepidation upon seeing the dangerous look in Sam's eyes. "Please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything I said. Please let me go. I swear I will leave this place. Please," he begged.

Sam shook his head slowly. "You should've thought about that before you tried to kill me and make my brother watch," he asserted.

The demon's black eyes enlarged to twice their size, and before it could say anything else, the black smoke expelled out of the body in large quantities. Soon after it was exorcised, Rufus's head fell onto his chest and Sam gently lowered him to the ground, panting heavily from the strain his newfound power put on his physicality.

Dean emerged from out of the cabinet a minute later, stepping over to his brother, who stared at the older hunter on the ground with sadness. He appeared dead. Blood trickled out from his nose and mouth, some of his body parts crimped at weird angles. Sam knelt by his side reeling on the edges of despair.

He was about to close the hunter's eyes, when the man began to cough, his body succumbing to the shakes. Sam turned to Dean and ordered him to get a blanket. Dean obeyed and went back over to the cabinet he hid in and pulled out a thin hospital blanket.

While Dean was away, Sam could hear the man was trying to say something. His voice was barely over a whisper, so Sam had to place his ear near his mouth. All he could hear was "she's coming".

Confused, Sam asked, "What do you mean?"

Dean came back and covered the man with the flimsy blanket, tucking in his sides. Rufus continued to stare at Sam wide-eyed, his hands shaking tremendously across his chest. He couldn't speak, and soon he was having a hard time drawing in a breath.

"No. No. You're going to be fine," Sam called to him. "Hang in there. You'll be okay."

But it was too late, the whites in Rufus's eyes glazed over, and his breathing stilled. The shaking stopped and the boys knew then, the older hunter had moved on to the next world.

Completely ashamed, Sam stood up to the best of his ability and moved onward. Dean felt truly awful for what happened to the hunter. Hell, he was the one to put him in that situation. When Sam got up and moved out of the room, he knew he had no time to lament, as whatever his brother was feeling was probably much worse than his own. He immediately jumped up and ran after him.

"Sam, you did the best you could. There was no way he was going to survive it, no matter what."

Sam stopped and turned to him, remaining mute.

"He was going to kill us all. You did the right thing," Dean told him.

Sam looked away, clamping a hand over his stomach. He sniffled.

"Sam, it's okay. There's no need to be upset over this…"

"That's not it Dean," Sam interjected.

"Then what?"

Sam huffed. "What that thing almost did to you. Like that. To stand by. Pinned. Can't do anything no matter how hard you try. While watching you get ripped to shreds," he sniffled again, trying to block out the memory. "I'm glad I did it, because the last thing I wanted was for you to experience the same thing I did. No one should ever have to deal with that. I'm sorry."

Dean was speechless. He didn't know what to say to Sam. What could you say to that? So Dean did the only thing he could think of to offer comfort. He rushed forward and hugged his brother. Screw awkward. But hey, they're still kings of chick-flick territory remember?

Sam was taken by surprise of his brother's actions, but yet felt so relieved of him doing so. It's been awhile since they were this close. And at that moment, the apocalypse could've come and raged holy hell, and he wouldn't care. He got what he wanted: he got his brother back.

Dean let go, and stared at Sam, daring him to laugh. But Sam didn't. He merely nodded and carried on. They had many more demons to get through. They were side by side in this now, and that was all that mattered.

"Alright now what?"

"We take em' head on. The leader's gone now, so it should be easy pickin's," Dean remarked.

"Cool," Sam exhaled. He turned to Dean, "And you're okay with this?"

Dean looked uncomfortable. "No, not really. But you're the best weapon we got right now. I hate to say it, but let's put it to good use."

Sam eyed him, wondering what this sudden encouragement was all about, but at this point in the game, he wasn't going to press the issue.

They stumbled down another long hallway, where a group of young doctors made their way towards them. Some ran while others searched for weapons to use. Despite the constant pain, the two hunters fought gallantly. Sam punched one of the doctors off his feet, while swinging around and punching another in the nose. While they were preoccupied with their injuries, he took the time to exorcise them. Afterwards nothing remained but unconscious hospital employees and burnt tiles.

A rather lanky janitor came after Dean. Using his speedy agility, Dean fought off the demon in two kicks to the knee. The man fell to his knees and instantly Dean took out the jug from his jacket's inner pocket, broke off the cap, and poured holy water down the man's throat. It was a good thing he decided to fill it up at the water basin. The man gurgled and screamed, thrashing about trying to break free of the burning in his throat.

Dean clamped his mouth shut, allowing the water to have nowhere else to go. After a second of struggling, Dean threw a punch knocking the janitor unconscious.

Sam seemed to have two demons under control. While having one pinned to the wall with one hand, while exorcising another demon with his other. The amount of energy he was producing was strenuous, especially since the flare in his injuries would cause him to lose his concentration. However, he bit down on his tongue, focusing on finishing the job. The demon before him, a petite red-haired doctor, clawed at her throat, while spitting out black globs of demon matter. He narrowed his eyes, and soon more demon smoke fell from her mouth.

Once the doctor began her descent to the floor, Sam looked out over her and saw a little girl in a yellow Sunday-school outfit at the far end of the hallway. He gasped out of disbelief. He could've sworn her eyes were pale white.

Whilst distracted, Sam had no idea that his power against the other demon waned and he broke free off the wall. He was so mesmerized by the little girl, believing it was she; the she Rufus talking about. Lilith. She was the one that was coming. Lilith was here. The demon chuckled haughtily at the Winchester and he charged wielding a large bowie knife, it's host carried on him.

It struck and Sam heard a low grunt. Broken free of his paralytic fears after seeing the apparition of the little girl vanish, Sam whipped around and saw Dean behind him hunched over, the demon he had pinned to the wall pushing in a huge knife to his chest. Shocked, Sam threw forward his hand, knocking the demon away. Dean slumped to the ground.

"No. NO," Sam screamed falling to the ground beside his brother and lifting him onto his legs.

Dean was rapidly paling, and the stain below his chest plate was spreading. Sam pressed his left hand onto the spot. A sob escaped. "Hang in there, Dean. It's going to be okay."

Dean stared up at him, panting heavily. His hand flew up and clung to Sam's shoulder. Sam grabbed a hold of his hand and squeezed hard. "Hang in there. It's okay. It's okay. Just stay with me. Please just stay with me," He looked around in the dark hallways. "HELP!" The halls remained eerily quiet. He screamed again, "HELP! SOMEBODY!"

He heard a chuckling and looked up to see the demon that stabbed his brother rise. The demon's laughter grew an octave as he approached. "Poor little Winchester, about to watch his brother die again. That's just too bad. Don't worry I'm sure Dean still has his VIP spot downstairs," it taunted.

Sam glared dangerously at the man. Angrily, he swiped his arm out and the man suddenly crashed through the wall. Sam turned back to Dean, still keeping his hand pressed down on the wound. It frightened him when Dean's body trembled, gasping for air. His eyes drooped.

"Saaaammmm," Dean slurred.

"No don't do that."

"M's-soorrry."

Sam was beyond the point of terrified. The blood was spilling fast over his fingers now. "No. No Dean. Stay awake. You'll be fine. We're in a hospital, remember? See, told ya you're gonna be fine," he smiled trying to lighten the mood.

Dean's eyes fell closed.

"NO. Dean! Dammit, keep your eyes open," he slapped him. "DEAN!" he shook him, tears already making a steady stream down his face. "No. Please. Please. Don't leave me big brother."

Dean's body remained still.

"Please don't leave me. O-oh God!"

At that moment, Sam's world shattered.