Thank you so much Jenjoremy for beta'ing this for me and Gredelina1 for all your help and support. Thank you all for reading and reviewing.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sam's eyes opened and he looked up into a cloudy sky. His head was pounding with pain and when he brought his fingers to his temple as he sat up, he felt stickiness. He winced and looked at the blood on his fingers. Why they had knocked him out he wasn't sure, because he had gone with them willingly enough. At least as willingly as you could when making a demon deal to save the people you loved.

The fear he had felt when he'd seen them all trapped by the demons was still echoing in him. He had turned that gun on himself with every intention of pulling the trigger if he wasn't able to save them. Life without them wasn't something he could endure. He wondered what they were doing now. How long had he been unconscious? Were they at Bobby's, gathered with their friends and plotting a way to save him? They would have to find him first.

He got slowly to his feet, wary of dizziness. It was manageable though and seemed to settle with a few deep breaths. He patted his pockets and found that his cell phone and the knife John insisted he carried were both gone.

He looked around and saw he was in what looked like an abandoned town. He had taken an American history class in college and they'd studied a few old mining towns that had been left to ruin when the gold rush ended. He remembered one in particular, Miner's Delight, in Wyoming, and he guessed he'd been dumped in a similar place.

He wondered what he was doing there. Was this a holding place for him until it was time for the battle? What did that even mean? There was supposed to be a leader, and Sam had been pegged as a favorite by the demon at Bobby's, but how was that to be decided? What ability could he even offer the demons? He just had visions. Admittedly he had good control of them now, but that wasn't an offensive weapon. Scott would be a more obvious choice, or Sarah with her ability to read minds. Even Linda, with her pyrokinesis would have had more to offer than him.

Whatever the reason, he was a part of it now, and he had to do what he could to protect himself from whatever might come. He needed a weapon.

He looked up and down the street of derelict buildings. There was a building with a sign half hanging off that said: "Taylor's Tack."

He walked over and pulled open the door, springing back, startled, when it fell off the hinges. Inside there was a quiet scream. He stepped inside and saw a figure curled into a ball on the floor. He guessed it was a woman from the long blonde hair. Realizing the complication that this woman's presence was—now there were two of them to keep safe—he walked towards her.

"It's okay," he said gently. "I'm not here to hurt you."

She raised her head and looked up at him with fear-filled eyes. Sam recognized her at once. Lily. The instant relief that he'd finally found her was eclipsed by the fact he had found her too late. It was already happening.

He reached for her automatically and she scuttled to the side. "Don't touch me! I'll kill you!"

Sam flinched and took two steps backwards, away from her. "I'm sorry. You don't need to hurt me, though, I'm not a threat."

She laughed, a tone of hysteria in the sound. "You say it like I've got a choice."

Sam thought he understood. He remembered the same fearful reaction Scott had to them. Her living in isolation made sense now, too.

"You can shock people?" he asked. "It's okay. I've met someone else that can do the same."

She shook her head. "I don't shock people. I stop their hearts."

"Oh God," Sam said. "I'm sorry."

She ran a hand through her hair and sniffed. "Yeah. Sorry. That helps. I killed my own girlfriend, but you're sorry, so I'm okay now."

Sam started to apologize again but quickly stopped himself. "Lily? It is Lily, right?"

"How do you know that?"

"My name's Sam. I have a power, too. I have visions. I saw you. My family and I have been searching for you for weeks. You and me, we're not the only ones; there's nine others that we've found. We all have some kind of ability."

She looked doubtful. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Because there is something coming—though I guess it's technically started now—and we wanted you all to be prepared and protected. I could never find you or your cabin."

"Wow, you're serious."

"Yes," Sam said emphatically.

"What is this thing that's coming then?" she asked.

"A war," Sam said. "There are demons and they want us."

"Hello! Is anyone there?" The desperate voice came from outside. Sam moved to the window and saw a man stumbling along the street.

"That a demon?" Lily asked blandly.

"No," Sam said. "It's a friend." He walked out of the building and onto the broken boards that would have made up the porch. "Scott!"

Scott turned, his hands raised and his eyes terrified. "Sam! Oh, thank God, you're here."

Sam walked towards him slowly, stopping a safe distance away. "You're okay," he said gently.

"What's happening?" Scott asked. "I went to bed at home and I woke up in the middle of this place. Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know," Sam said. "But you're okay now, and so's your dad. Jessica spoke to him."

"Has it started?" Scott asked. "Is this it? The war?"

"I think so," Sam said. "I think…" He trailed off as he heard running footsteps. "Get behind me."

Scott hurried to obey and Sam tensed as two figures came around the side of a building. He quickly relaxed. "Over here, guys."

"Sam?" Andy's expression was one of exquisite relief, but Weber still looked afraid as he followed his brother over to Sam.

"Scott, this is Andy and Weber," Sam said. "They're the brothers I told you about."

"You can make people do things with your mind, right?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," Andy said. "But it probably won't work on you. We can't do it on Sam or each other. What did you get?"

"Electric shock touch," Scott said. "I accidentally killed a cat."

"Oh!" Andy's eyes widened. "We'll skip the handshake then if you don't mind."

Scott smiled slightly. "I don't mind."

Sam thought Scott was probably more comfortable here with them than he had ever been at home. He could be open with these people and not feel like the freak. They were all freaks now.

"Have you seen anyone else?" Sam asked.

"We saw a woman and man and heard more voices," Weber said. "That's why we ran."

Sam nodded. He had a feeling that, rather than fleeing from them, they needed to gather these people. He thought that he would know them all, too."

"I'm going to look around," he said. "You stay together. There's a woman called Lily in the store, but give her some space for now, okay? Look for anything you can use as a weapon, but don't attack anyone unless they come at you with black eyes."

"Why not?" Weber asked.

"Because I think that the rest of the people here are like us. I think this is where the demon brought us to prepare."

"For war?" Weber asked.

Sam nodded soberly. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

He walked down the street, past a saloon and general store, and came to a stop as he spotted something. It was an old bell, mounted above a stone plinth. He had seen it before. He couldn't think where, but as he searched his mind, the memory of agonizing pain and Missouri's voice came to him. This was one of the things he'd seen in his onslaught of visions. An old bell in dim light with a tree cast into the metal.

He shook his head again and listened hard for any sign of life from the buildings he passed. He thought he could feel eyes on him and he called out softly. "Hello? I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help." No one appeared though, and he walked around a rickety house and peered around a corner. There were two people standing in the center of the muddy, house-lined street.

He recognized them at once and called out to them. "Daryll! Ava!"

"Sam!" Ava ran at him and threw her arms around him. "You're here!"

Sam patted her back and looked over her shoulder at Daryll. "Hey."

"Don't mind if I don't hug you, do you?" he asked. "Don't really feel like getting an ass-load of memories thrown at me right now."

Sam huffed a laugh. "Not a problem."

He eased Ava away from him and said. "Have you seen anyone else?"

"There were these two men but they ran pretty fast when they saw us," Daryll said.

"That's Andy and Weber," Sam said. "They're okay. They're back there with Scott. There's someone called Lily, too, but I think it's going to take a while to get her out with us. She's got a… well, a pretty terrible ability."

"Yeah? What is it?" Daryll asked.

"She can stop your heart with a touch," Sam said.

"Okay," Daryll said slowly. "No hug for her either."

"Go wait with them," Sam said. "I'll find the others."

Ava and Daryll walked away through an alley. Almost the moment they disappeared from sight, the door of one of the houses creaked open. Sam tried to look calm and unassuming as the man came out. The newcomer wasn't remotely unassuming. Menace radiated from him, and confusion.

"Hello, Jake," he said.

Jake strode towards him, his hands fisted. "You!"

"Sam."

"What the hell is happening?" he asked

"What I tried to warn you about," Sam said.

Jake shook his head. "This has to be some kind of crazy-ass dream. This cannot be happening. I'm dead, right?"

"You think I'd be in your heaven?" Sam asked with a sympathetic smile.

"No, I'm pretty sure this is Hell. One of those Al-Qaeda bastards must have got a lucky bullet in. I didn't feel a thing."

"Try pinching yourself," Sam suggested.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Like I didn't try that already."

"It's real," Sam said. "There are others here, too. Come with me and I'll introduce you."

He turned and walked back to the alley that led to what would once have been Main Street. He knew instinctively that Jake would follow. He was a soldier, a brave man, and would no more cower here alone than Dean or John would. His confidence was confirmed when he heard Jake's footsteps behind him.

Voices reached him before he exited the alley, and he heard his own name being spoken. Eyes snapped to him as he appeared and a woman cried out. "Sam!"

Sarah broke from the group and ran at him, her face streaked with tears. Sam caught her shaking arms and ducked his head to look into her eyes. "She's okay!" he said intensely. "Caleb is staying with her. Sophie is fine." She sagged in his hold and he pulled her against his chest. Smoothing her hair, he whispered, "She's okay. I swear, she's okay."

He saw Jake come to a stop beside him and he said. "Jake, meet Sarah. You think this is hell for you? Sarah has a four-year-old daughter at home."

Sarah pulled away and looked at Jake. "Hello, Jake."

Sam looked past her to the group that had gathered and was pleased but unsurprised that it had grown. Laura and Karen had left their hiding places and joined the others. There was another man there, though. One he had never seen before, in vision or life. He walked forward slowly and eyed him.

"Hello?" he framed it as a question.

The man glanced at Ava who was standing beside him and she said, "Yeah, this is Sam. He's the one I told you about. He's our leader."

The word made Sam nervous. The memory of a demon's words came to him: "We're going to need a nice stable leader when the time comes."

Was this what she had meant? Was he leader of the demon army by default as the others had apparently elected him to that post?

"I'm Matthew," the man said. "They told me you can explain what the hell's happening. I was doing the Resurrection Trail in Alaska last night, and then I woke up here. I'm pretty sure I didn't take a wrong turn."

"Alaska?" Jake scoffed. "You think that's bad? I went to sleep in Afghanistan!" He brushed his hand over the front of his jacket, sending a cloud of dust to the ground. "This sand is from the freaking desert!"

Sam watched it drift to the floor and tried to wrap his mind around it. He supposed the demons weren't constrained by distance the way the rest of them were, but it was still crazy.

"What can you do?" he asked Matthew.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I'm pretty strong."

Sam looked at the muscles bunched under the sleeve of his t-shirt. He imagined he was, but he didn't think he meant by conventional levels. "How strong?"

"Crazy strong, right?" Jake asked.

Matthew's eyebrows rose. "You too?"

Jake nodded. "First day at Camp Bastion a guy flipped his jeep. I lifted it off him. They said it was a freak adrenaline thing, but next day…"

"You bench pressed a half ton?" Matthew asked.

"I quit trying at 800lbs," Jake said.

"So, you both have super strength?" Ava said. "That might come in handy."

"Handy for what?" Matthew asked. "I don't understand what's happening."

All eyes seemed to fix on Sam and he fought the urge to squirm. He didn't want to deal with this. He wasn't a hunter. He wasn't really a leader. He'd been elected one though, so he had to suck it up and act like one.

He addressed Matthew, as he was the one that they'd never even tried to give an explanation to. "I have visions. I saw everyone here before I met them—everyone but you. There's going to be some kind of war."

"A demon war," Ava supplied.

"A demon war," Sam agreed. "Me and my family have been tracking everyone I saw to prepare them and to add protection."

"No offence, Sam, but that didn't exactly work out," Andy said. "I woke up and all the traps were broken."

"Mine, too," Weber said. "I saw mine were broken and headed for Andy's room. I had just gotten through the door when I was knocked out."

"I'm sorry," Sam said. "We thought it would help. We wanted to do more than protect you, though. We wanted to prepare you, too. There were two more of us, but they both died. Max let his ability twist him and he used it to murder people. Linda was scared into trying to do the same by the yellow-eyed demon, then she killed herself. The demon is the one orchestrating this. He's the one that wants us here. I saw him when he took me. He possessed my fiancée."

"Jess!" Ava gasped. "Is she okay?"

"She's alive," Sam said. He knew at least that much from the glimpse of her he'd gotten before the demons had taken him. A knife of pain slid into his heart at the thought of the woman he loved and what had happened to her, but he quickly forced it away. He couldn't think about her now, nor Dean or his father. He had to concentrate on the people around him.

"What exactly are we doing here though?" Matthew asked. "Demons are real, sure, but why are they bringing us to frontier town? What are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know," Sam admitted. "I just know whatever they're planning is starting now, and we have to protect ourselves."

"No," Jake argued. "We have to leave. There's some woods back there. I figure we get our asses moving and leave. Eventually we'll find a road and from there we can get the hell away from this place."

Sam knew it was probably the most sensible course of action, but it didn't feel right to him. They'd been brought there for a reason. They wouldn't be allowed to leave so easily, would they?"

"I don't know…" he said doubtfully.

"I think he's right," Karen said. "I'm sorry, Sam. I know you're trying to help us, but it didn't work last time. I think we need to help ourselves." She nodded. "I'm coming."

There were murmurs of agreement from the others. Sam, accepting defeat and knowing he couldn't let them walk away on their own, nodded. "Let me just get Lily."

"Who's Lily?" Jake asked.

"She's one of us," Daryll said. "Sam said she can kill with touch though, so maybe give her some space."

Sam walked to the open doorway of the tack shop and knocked on the wall. Lily was standing by the window, looking out.

"Hey," he said. "Did you hear all of that?"

"Yes," she said. "Demons and superpowers and the war. The lot."

"We're leaving," Sam said. "Will you come with us?"

"Figure I've got no choice," she said. "It's join the crazy crew or die here alone."

Sam felt pretty much the same.

He walked back out to the others and Lily followed him slowly. Eyes followed her and she stopped far back from the group. "Lily," she said. "Killer touch. Nice to meet you."

Sarah smiled. "Sarah. Mind reading. Nice to meet you, too."

Some of them glanced nervously at Sarah and she sighed. "It doesn't work on you guys, so you don't need to censor yourselves. In fact, this is the quietest my head's been since this whole thing started. It's kinda nice."

Sam noticed that Matthew looked especially relieved. He supposed after being whammied with the news he'd had the past half hour it was good to have a little privacy to process.

Jake led the way around the buildings and toward the trees. Others followed him and Weber and Andy brought up the rear with Sam and Sarah.

"You really think Caleb can take care of Sophie?" she asked quietly.

"Can and will," Sam said. "Before he even met me, before we knew the real stakes, Caleb signed up to protect me without question. He's a good man."

"I know," she said a little wistfully. "He's been good to us. Sophie loves him."

Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "He'll take care of her until we get you home."

The trees were thick, and sometimes it was hard to see everyone. Sam tried to track them all, keeping a head count, and he noticed when Weber began to lag and massage his temples.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Just a headache," he said. "I think they cracked me a little too hard when they got me." He glanced up at Sam. "Do you think this is going to work? Will we be able to get ourselves out of here?"

"No," Sam said honestly. "I think we were brought here for a reason, and it wasn't so we could escape through the woods."

Weber raised a hand to his temples again and his eyes squeezed shut.

"Hey, you okay?" Andy asked, turning and seeing his brother was no longer at his side.

Weber smiled for him. "It's just a headache. I'll be okay."

They set off walking again and then Sam froze as he heard something echoing through the trees. It was laughter that sounded like it was coming from a child. Terror gripped him suddenly.

"Run!" he shouted, grabbing Sarah's hand and dragging her forward. He wasn't sure what was coming, but he knew that laughter hadn't come from one of them. He hadn't made it more than a few paces before there was a muffled scream. Karen was standing with her back pressed against a tree, her hands covering her mouth. In front of her was the figure of a little girl with dirty blonde hair and a grey ribbon holding it back from her face. She was no human child though. Her fingers were tipped with long claws.

"Karen!" Sam bellowed as he ran forward.

He was too late to help. The child whipped her hand across Karen's neck, slitting her throat, and then disappeared.

"Back to the town!" Jake bellowed.

They all obeyed. Sarah pulled herself from Sam's grip and raced away towards the town. They were all following. Only Sam was trying to get to Karen now, buffeted by them as he pushed through.

He dropped to his knees beside her and pressed his hands to her throat. She was gurgling and her terrified eyes were fixed on him.

"It's okay," he soothed, even though the words were useless. He knew there was nothing he could do for her.

Someone grabbed him from behind and Sam struggled like a wildcat. He was sure his own death was approaching and he wasn't going to give in and let it happen. He had people to fight for.

"We have to go!" Jake said in his ear. "It's too late for her."

Sam tried to pull free, but Jake's enhanced strength was irresistible. He was dragged backwards and through the trees. Sam's eyes were on Karen still, and he saw the last gurgling breath before her chest stilled. He stopped fighting then, knowing she was gone and ran with Jake instead.

When they were out of the trees, Jake released Sam. "I'm sorry, man."

"She died alone!" Sam growled.

"Yes, she did," he agreed. "But if you had stayed with her, that thing could have killed you, too. I don't know you, I don't even like you particularly, but these people trust you and need you. You can't help anyone if you're dead, so I am going to make damn sure you stay alive."

So… Back to Cold Oak and another of the special children gone. Things aren't going to be what they were in canon. There are different heroes and villains this time. Throw some of your theories at me.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx