Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dean tensed as he heard footsteps approaching. He cocked his gun and waited, ready to fire, as something came running through the maze towards him.
But it was only Julie. Dean lowered his gun as his beautiful girlfriend appeared, her blond hair wild and windswept. She was holding the hand of a small, dirty little boy. He stared up at Dean with the shell-shocked look of someone who had just experienced true terror.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked them.
"Yeah," Julie said. "Johnny's okay, at least physically."
"What happened?" Dean asked the little boy, kneeling to talk to him at his level.
"The scary doctor with the needle tried to kill me," the boy whispered, clinging to Julie's leg.
Dean glanced up at Julie, confused. She shook her head slightly. "I don't know what's going on, Dean," she said softly as he stood up. "From what Johnny's told me, his biggest fear is going to the doctor to get a shot. I don't know if that means that whatever's in here manifests into your worst fear or what, but I do know we've got to get the kid out of here."
"We've got to find Sam, too," Dean said. "Can't even imagine what it would do to him if he got jumped by evil clowns."
Julie frowned. "Was that a joke?"
"No, the guy's deathly afraid of clowns," Dean said, smirking ever-so-slightly. But deep down, he knew that clowns couldn't really be Sam's worst fear. He had lost his parents and his big brother countless times, watched the woman he loved die, and suffered in the pit of hell with the devil himself for an unimaginable amount of time. Sam had much bigger problems than clowns.
"I'll go find him," Julie sighed. "You get Johnny back to his mom."
"What? No! Jules, I'm not leaving you in here," Dean snapped. "I'll go find Sammy, and you can get the kid out of here."
"Dean, you and I both know you're not doing so well," Julie said quietly but intensely. "The last thing you need is to have to fight whatever your worst nightmare would be."
"But, Julie-"
"I'll be fine, Dean! I'll find Sam and we'll both get out just fine."
Dean hesitated, but he knew Julie was right, as usual. She gently pried Johnny off of her leg and said, "Johnny, I'm going to send you with my friend Dean. He's a nice guy. He's going to get you out of here, okay?"
Johnny nodded a couple times and then stared up at Dean with wide, scared eyes. Dean softened a little, seeing this poor, scared kid. He bent a little to talk to Johnny and said, "Hey, it'll be okay. Your mom's right outside this maze, and when I get you out, she'll be right there. You'll be okay. No scary doctors are going to get you, kid. I promise."
Despite the dire situation, Julie stopped to smile at Dean. As much as he tried to deny it, Dean was naturally a good man. Even with the evil of the Mark of Cain and the First Blade in him, he was still so kind and gentle with this scared little boy. Julie wanted to stop and really appreciate how good the man she loved was, but Sam could be in trouble, and he surely needed her help.
"Alright, let's go, kid," Dean said, straightening up. He met Julie's eyes and he suddenly looked very sad. "Jules, stay safe, okay?"
"I will," she whispered, and they took off running in opposite directions.
It took Dean maybe ten minutes to find the way out. He was pretty good with directions, and he had been trying to mark the path he had taken so he could retrace his steps. At one point, Johnny Wolfe stumbled on a rock and fell down. Dean carried the small boy the rest of the way until he finally found his way back to the entrance of the maze.
Johnny's mother shrieked in joy and relief as Dean appeared, carrying her little boy. Dean handed the young boy off to his sobbing mother and nodded at the officers who were all eying him with respect and gratitude.
As much as he wanted to enjoy this small moment of actually feeling like he'd done something right, Dean knew his work wasn't over.
Just as he was about to turn around and go back into the maze, he heard one of the most horrible sounds in the world: his little brother crying out in pain. It was far away, but Dean was certain that was Sam's agonized cry.
Without even a word to the people standing around the entrance, Dean ran back in.
"You're not real," Sam whispered, digging his thumb into his palm like he had once had to do to fight off the hallucinations of Lucifer that plagued him. But the cut on his hand had healed a long time ago, and besides, this wasn't a hallucination.
"I don't know, Sam," Lucifer shrugged. "I feel pretty real to me. What do you think?"
He raised his hand to hit Sam, and the hunter flinched. The devil slowly shook his head and chuckled as he lowered his hand. "Wow, Sam. All these years later, and you're still terrified of me."
The man began to circle him as he talked. "You never really answered my question though, Sammy boy. Did you miss me? Because I sure missed you, old friend. Things got so boring in the pit without you. While you were running around up here with your brother, saving the world and all that jazz, I was downstairs, having to put up with my annoying brother for all eternity. We didn't even have you to play with. It was quite dull."
"How did you get out?" Sam asked, trying to sound cold, but coming off as more curious and nervous.
"I had a backup plan, of course, in case you somehow overpowered me," Lucifer explained. "Sooner or later, the demons would get dissatisfied with their leader, Crowley. He would go soft because of you boys, and the rebellious demons would raise their true leaders, my children, the Knights of Hell. Then Abbadon nearly ruined my plans with her own little campaign, but thankfully your brother took care of that mess. How is Dean, by the way?"
Sam glared at the devil. "Not so well, huh? Well, what else would you expect? He bears the Mark of Cain and the First Blade. Soon enough, he'll go full dark side, and you'll have to kill him, or else he'll kill you and make the demon that gave him the Mark so proud. Good old Cain…I missed him, too. I'll have to pay the father of murder a visit some time, after I've had my fun with you."
"You still didn't explain to me how you got out," Sam said, trying to keep the devil talking until he could figure a way out of this mess.
"Oh, right. Well, you see, Sam, the Knights are my most loyal followers. They are part of the very few demons I will actually allow to live once I rule the earth. And they know this, and so my pride and joy, Beelzebub, has always known that should I be returned to the pit, he must free me again. And I must say, he did a very fine job."
Lucifer stretched his arms luxuriously. "Of course, this body will eventually give out, and I'll have to find a new one. Unless you just want to say yes right now, and save us a lot of trouble?"
"No," Sam growled, stepping away from him. "Never."
"You already did once, and you will again," the devil smirked. "But this time, big brother won't be there to save you. You know why? Because pretty soon, your beloved Dean is going to be so far gone you won't even recognize him."
"You're wrong," Sam said. "Dean will fight the Blade and the Mark, and he'll win."
Lucifer laughed. "You're lying to yourself, Sam! You and I both know Dean's going to lose. He'll start out just killing monsters and demons. At one point, he'll slip up and kill his pet demon, Crowley, but that'll be excusable. Next it'll be angels, and not just the bad ones. He'll kill precious Castiel, and he'll enjoy it. And then he'll rip pretty little Juliet's heart out."
"He would never do any of that," Sam snarled. "Nothing could ever make him do that."
"You know that's a lie, Sam. And you know how it's going to end, too." The devil stepped closer to Sam, and he had nowhere to go. "One day, you're going to turn around and see big brother with black eyes. And then he's going to kill you too, Sam. Unless you say yes to me. Then nothing could ever hurt you again."
"Get away from me," Sam growled. "Dean's never going to do any of that, and I'm never going to say yes!"
"We'll see about that," Lucifer snarled, and then he pulled a long, curved blade off of his belt and stabbed it into Sam's shoulder.
Sam roared in pain. Trying and failing to ignore the agonizing pain in his left shoulder, he swung his fist and it collided with Lucifer's head. But the devil just straightened up, pulled his knife out, and struck Sam hard across the face. Sam stumbled, and then a boot collided with his back, sending him sprawling onto the ground.
Lucifer knelt down in front of him and lifted his chin with the bloody tip of his blade. "Let's try that again," he sighed. "Now, Sam, will you allow me to possess you and control you so that I can take over the earth and whatever else I could possibly want?"
"No," Sam said through gritted teeth.
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Come on, Sam. I mean, yes, I've been dying to take you apart again, see what new ways there are to make you scream, but wouldn't it be easier just to say yes now? For both of us?"
"No," Sam said again. "All I'm ever going to say is no."
Lucifer forced him onto his back and jabbed his thumb into the stab wound in Sam's shoulder. Sam screamed through gritted teeth, and Lucifer chuckled. "I see that still hurts. What about fire, huh?" He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small flamethrower. "Does it still hurt when I melt the flesh off your bones? Why don't we give it a shot?"
"Get away from him!" a woman cried in anger and horror.
Lucifer looked up and saw Julie standing there, her gun pointed at him, but her eyes on Sam. stood up and brushed the dirt off his hands. "And here she is now, the lovely Juliet," he smirked. He glanced down at Sam, who was staring up at him with pain in his eyes. "We'll finish this later, Sam."
With no warning, he suddenly kicked Sam so hard in the head that the man went unconscious. Julie cocked her gun and pointed it at the heart of this sadistic man. She had no idea who he was, but the way he had been torturing Sam was more than enough reason for her to blow him away. But before she could fire, the man suddenly vanished.
Julie looked around, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Julie rushed to Sam's side and checked on his condition. He was bleeding pretty heavily from a deep stab wound in his shoulder, and Julie carefully peeled his suit jacket off of him to get a better look at it.
She pulled off her own jacket and used it to put pressure on the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. Even unconscious, Sam looked slightly pained, and Julie was beginning to really worry about him when she heard footsteps.
She looked up and sighed in relief when she saw that it was just Dean. "Dean!" she cried. "Quick, get over here! We need to get Sam out of here so I can actually do something to stop the bleeding."
Dean didn't rush over to her side like she expected, but casually strolled over to them. He studied his brother on the ground, and then shrugged. "I don't know, looks okay to me. I think he'll survive."
Julie stopped fretting over Sam to stare up at Dean. "What?" she snapped. "Dean, what's wrong with you? Sam's hurt!"
"Oh, he's fine," Dean sighed dramatically. "I'll deal with him soon enough. But right now, I need to take care of you."
He advanced towards Julie as she straightened up, and she found herself backing away, really and truly scared. There was something wrong with Dean. He was…different somehow. His eyes were colder, and the corners of his mouth were turned up in a cruel sort of smile.
"Where are you going, Julie?" he laughed. "You can't escape here. You can't escape me."
"You're not Dean," Julie finally got out, glaring at whatever this was in front of her.
"Give the lady a prize," he smirked. "No, I'm not your boyfriend. But I'm even better. I'm what he's really like on the inside. I'm what Dean is going to become."
Julie found the knife tucked into her waistband and gripped it tightly. "No, you're not," she growled at the monster circling her. "You're just some pathetic monster who has no idea what he's up against."
Dean, or rather the monster posing as him, cocked his head and grinned a smug sort of grin that was very Dean-like. It was the one Dean wore when he knew he had the winning hand in a poker game, or the smug smirk he gave a despicable monster before he killed them.
"I don't, do I?" he smirked. "Let's see. Juliet Carters, an only child to two parents, both killed by vampires. You've been to hell and back, and you are quite the hunter. You love the Beatles, for some reason you get turned on when it's raining, your best friend in the world is lying there bleeding at your feet…need I say more?"
"How do you know all that?" Julie growled.
"I told you," Not-Dean smirked. He spread his arms wide so she could take in his tall, muscular body, which still looked so damn good in a suit. "I'm Dean Winchester. And another thing I know about you? You are desperately in love with me."
"Not. You," Julie spit through gritted teeth. "You are not him."
"Not the Dean of today, you mean," he said, stuffing his hand in his pockets. He was still circling her slowly, like a lion stalking its prey, but there was something so familiar and truly Dean about even the way he walked, that she was finding it hard to convince herself this wasn't really the man she loved. "I'm Dean a few weeks, maybe months from now. Your Dean, the old me…he's as desperate and delusional as you, sweetheart. He really believes things can get better, that he can control the Mark of the Cain and the First Blade. I really believed that. But time passed, and the Mark got stronger, and for all my bravado, I couldn't fight it. Suddenly, your love wasn't enough anymore, and even Sam couldn't convince me that it was worth it to fight. So one day, I just quit. And now…" He gestured grandly to himself. "I'm me."
"You're not real," Julie said quietly, trying to convince herself.
"There's something nice about this new me," this monstrous version of Dean continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Life is simpler now. I don't have to carry all that guilt and pain I did before. I'm free now. I'm happy now. Isn't that what you wanted for me, anyway? If you really loved me, you would want me to be happy, right?" His smile was syrupy sweet, and his eyes were mocking her. Julie found herself irrationally terrified, staring at this twisted shadow of what had once been her Dean. This was her worst nightmare, come to life.
As Julie had backed away from this monstrous Dean, she had ended up a couple feet away from Sam. All of the sudden, he groaned slightly and his eyes fluttered open. Julie wanted to run to Sam, but Dean, or whatever else this was, was closer to him than she was.
Sam's eyes landed on this version of Dean, and for a second, Julie could swear she saw that same attractive, sandy-haired man who had tortured Sam. Then the monster was back to Dean, and his face was twisted into an angry snarl. Before Julie could stop him, Dean stalked over to Sam and kicked him in the head, hard, knocking him out again.
"Stay down, Sammy," he growled. "This isn't your nightmare."
"That's it," Julie gasped suddenly, and Not-Dean looked up to glare at her. "That's what you are. You're some kind of shifter, one that turns into people's worst nightmares. For Johnny, you were a doctor, because he's terrified of needles. And for Sam, you would have been…" Her eyes widened. "Lucifer." For surely nothing could be worse to Sam than the devil himself, who had spent an unimaginable amount of time torturing Sam, after possessing him and forcing him to kill Bobby Singer, Castiel, and nearly kill Dean. After that, a dark version of Dean didn't seem so bad.
But as this Dean just grinned and slowly circled closer to her, it was hard to imagine anything worse than this. She would have expected that Asmodeus or Beelzebub be her worst nightmare after everything they'd done to her, but this was somehow worse.
"What does it matter?" he said. "So, this hasn't happened to me yet. But it will, and we both know it. And you know what? I'll be happier. I won't have to take care of my pain-in-the-ass baby brother anymore." Julie had heard Dean call Sam that before, but it had always been said with such affection, and now it was said with contempt. "And I won't have to take care of you, the hopelessly-in-love, desperate, pathetic bitch." Julie flinched as he spat the word at her. Dean had never called her bitch. Never.
Dean's eyes were cold as he moved dangerously close to her. "You and Sammy? You were just holding me back, tying me to my old mistakes. I'm a new man without you two and that baggage. I'm a better man."
"You're not real," Julie whispered. She tried to sound defiant, but her voice shook. This was far too real…
Suddenly, Dean lashed out and hit her across the face. Julie clutched her stinging cheek and stared up at him in horror and surprise. "I don't know," he chuckled. "That felt pretty real to me."
Julie raised her knife to stab this thing, because it just couldn't be Dean. But he raised his own knife, thankfully not the First Blade, and blocked her first strike easily. Julie tried to kick his legs out from underneath him, but he easily side-stepped and got a good punch in the jaw in while her guard was down.
Julie stumbled back and then tried to straighten up to fight. But this monster was just as strong and fast as Dean, and he had already reached her. His blade flicked out and sliced her right arm open. It wasn't a deep cut, but it hurt like hell, and Julie dropped her knife.
The next second, Dean grabbed her left arm and twisted it at a horrible angle. There was a pop in Julie's shoulder, and then she screamed in pain as her left shoulder was dislocated.
For a second, she thought she heard Dean's voice from far away, crying her name. But then it came right in her ear. "I bet that felt real, too."
He threw her to the ground and Julie lay on her stomach for a moment, not caring about the fact that her face was pressed into the dirt ground, or that her blood was dripping onto her once nice white shirt. She was shaking, and not just in pain, but also in fear of this monster that was once the man she loved. Because this could so easily be Dean, if he was not somehow saved.
Dean knelt down and forced Julie to roll onto her back. He straddled her, and she found herself staring up at the monster. This was definitely not the first time they had been in this position, but it was definitely the first time he was holding a knife. He ran the tip of his knife teasingly along her cheekbone and then her jaw as he spoke.
"You want to know something else, Julie? It took some perspective, but I've finally realized the truth about how I really felt about you." His hands slipped lower and he undid a couple buttons of her shirt. Julie tried to throw the monster off, but he was every bit as strong and heavy as Dean, and she knew she had no hope of ever beating him. Not-Dean traced his knife down her neck to her heaving chest as he continued to speak.
"Well, it's like this. I mean, you're pretty and all, and you're pretty good in bed, I'll give you that, and you were there and all…but there was nothing special about you." Julie hated to admit it, but those words really stung. This monstrous Dean smirked slightly at the pain in her eyes. "I'm sure you were so proud of yourself, the woman who finally conquered Dean Winchester. But do you want to know the real truth? You were just a distraction, a good ally to have, and you made me feel pretty good about myself, seeing how desperately in love with me you were. But, Julie, sweetheart…I never really loved you. Sorry, but it's true. I'm not sure I've ever really loved any woman. There was Lisa Braeden, she was pretty good, definitely better than you. Second place isn't too shabby, though." Dean was grinning, and Julie could feel tears welling up in her eyes despite herself.
"You're lying," she said in a hoarse whisper. "This isn't Dean talking."
"No?" he smirked. "Come on, Julie. You know it's true. You were never going to be enough for me, the great Dean Winchester. I'm a legend, and you're a pathetic, lovesick bitch."
"Don't you say that to me, Dean," she whispered, blinking back tears.
Dean laughed cruelly. "I don't need you now, and I never needed you. You've served your purpose, Juliet. Now die with at least some self-respect." He moved his blade to rest over her heart. "I have to admit, I'm going to enjoy this. And you can watch me kill you, see what you turned me into. Because you and I both know, if I hadn't needed to take up the First Blade again to save your sorry ass, I wouldn't have become…this!"
And his green eyes flashed pure black.
Dean pulled his knife back to drive into her heart, and a single tear trickled down her cheek.
"Hey!" Dean growled, but not the one about to stab her. That monstrous Dean looked up and grinned. He stood up and walked away from Julie, forgetting her as a much more interesting victim appeared.
The real Dean stood over his fallen brother, pointing his gun at this monstrous version of himself. And despite himself, Dean's arms were trembling slightly.
"Interesting," Not-Dean smirked, slowly approaching the real Dean. "I'm not changing. That means that your worst nightmare, Dean Winchester, is me. Or rather, you."
Dean glared with green eyes at the black-eyed version of himself. That monster smiled wider. "Funny, because there are so many other things that I would think would scare you. Perhaps Alastair, the demon who tortured you for decades in hell?"
And suddenly the other Dean was another man with black eyes. From Julie's position on the ground, she couldn't get a good look at him, but she did see the unmistakable fear in Dean's eyes as he recognized this demon.
"Or perhaps Sammy gone dark side?" Alastair guessed, and the next second he was Dean's little brother with eyes black as night, demon blood smeared around his mouth.
"But no, not this one either," Sam sighed. Then his expression went even more malicious. "Ooh! I know. How about…Daddy?"
The monster suddenly took on the form of John Winchester, complete with dark, angry eyes and his mouth turned down in a disapproving frown. "You're pathetic, Dean," he spat, and Dean flinched. "You're a weak, disgusting excuse for a human, and you don't deserve to be my son."
There was a lot of pain in Dean's eyes, even as the monster shifted back into the twisted version of himself. Not-Dean laughed. "Damn, Dean. You're a mess. Or rather, we are. You've got so much to be afraid of, and yet your worst fear is yourself?! Well, makes sense, I guess. You've known your whole life this is how your story was going to end. You'll kill Crowley and your beloved angel, and then you'll kill this pathetic bitch, and then you'll kill Sammy. After that, then you'll finally be what you always knew you were destined to be: me."
Dean stared at the monster in front of him, stared at himself, and there was true fear in his eyes. "You fight this so hard, Dean," the monster sighed. "You've been fighting your whole life, but all you do is mess up. Trust me, it's a lot easier just to give in. Here, I've got an idea. I'll get you your Blade, and you can kill Juliet and Sammy boy here, and then I'll help you. It'll all go away, Dean. You don't have to suffer anymore. You can-"
But Dean would never know what he could do, because a gunshot went off and the monster fell to the ground, a silver bullet through its heart.
Dean found himself staring at Julie. She had hauled herself to an upright position, even with her bleeding arm and dislocated shoulder, and she had shot the monster with a silver bullet. It must have been some kind of shifter, or at least an offshoot of the species, because the silver bullet had effectively killed it.
Dean stared at Julie, and she stared back at him, both of them wide-eyed and breathing heavily. Neither of them could think of a single thing to say. They had both just faced their worst nightmare, and it was the same thing.
Dean. Granted, it was Dean gone full-demon, but…it was Dean. That thing had walked and talked like Dean, and even if he wasn't real, it had felt real.
Sam stirred slightly, groggily opening his eyes. He stared up at Dean, confused, and then a little scared. "You're not going to kick me again, are you?" he muttered, and Dean frowned, confused.
Julie tried to get to her feet, but she staggered a little to the side. Dean rushed forward and caught her waist, afraid to grab her arms, since both were hurt. He helped her stand, but then he looked away, unable to meet her eyes after what they had just seen.
Without speaking, the two of them went to Sam's side, and Dean helped his little brother sit up. He pressed Julie's suit jacket to the stab wound again, slowing the bleeding. "We need to get you out of here and patch you up," Dean said. "Julie too."
"What happened?" Sam asked, confused, as Dean helped him get to his feet. "I was…there wasn't any woman, and then…Lucifer…"
"Lucifer?!" Dean cried. "He was here?"
"Not really," Julie said quietly. "That thing was some kind of shape shifter. Except it was psychic or something, because it could read your mind, see your worst nightmare, and become it."
Sam nodded shakily. "Good. As long as that bastard stays in the pit, there's at least a small chance of us actually surviving this mess."
Then Sam frowned again. "But then, when I woke up again, Dean kicked me and knocked me out. Why would you do that?"
"I didn't," Dean said quietly, staring at the ground.
"Then what…?" Sam stopped, realizing what must have happened.
"That was my nightmare," Julie admitted softly. "Dean as a demon, basically."
"Oh." Sam swallowed. There was a long, tense silence, and then he finally spoke. "Well, we'd better get out of here then. You did find the kid, I'm assuming?"
"Yeah, he's safe," Dean said. "At least one thing went right today."
Dean led them out of the maze, and as Julie walked behind him, watching him, she tried to convince herself that monster had been just that: a monster. Not Dean. There was no way Dean would ever turn into that thing.
…Right?
"So…Lucifer, huh?" Julie asked carefully, trying to distract Sam as she patched up his wound. She had already made him strip down to a white undershirt, given him painkillers, spread disinfectant on the nasty wound, and now she was trying to distract him as she stitched the hole shut as best she could with nothing more than a first aid kit to work with.
Sam gritted his teeth, and not just because of the pain. He shifted to a different part of the hood of the Impala, uncomfortable with the topic. "You don't have to talk about it," Julie said quickly, sensing how tense and painful a subject it was.
"No, I…it would probably be good if you knew what happened," Sam admitted. "And it might actually help me to talk about it. I don't think anybody knows what happened besides Cas, and that's because he took the memories from me to save me."
"Not even Dean?" she asked, confused.
Sam's eyes met hers. "I'm his little brother, the one he's spent his whole life trying to protect. Do you really think telling him how Lucifer tortured me in the pit and drove me insane is really going to be good for him?"
Julie bit her lip. "Right. Wow. God, Sam, I'm so…" She stopped and sighed, knowing that there was nothing she could say to make what happened go away.
Julie regretted picking this subject, because now she was more focused on what Sam was saying than the gaping hole in his flesh. "Dean said you used to have hallucinations?" she asked, going back to her work.
"Yeah," Sam sighed. "It drove me crazy. Literally. He was always there, even when I was with Dean. It was easier then, when I had him to help remind me what was real, but…it was still bad."
"Did he…?" Julie started, and then stopped.
"Torture me?" Sam asked drily. His shoulder tensed up under her touch and she stopped, waiting until he relaxed slightly to continue stitching him up. After a moment, Sam took a deep breath and relaxed enough for her to go back to work. "Yeah. Not that often. Usually just when Dean wasn't there and I was alone. It was never quite as bad as when he was actually there, though."
Julie stopped probing him. She really did not want to know what her friend had suffered through in that pit. Sure, she had been at the mercy of hell's two greatest torturers, but they were only apprentices to the true master, who had Sam at his mercy for much longer than she was down in hell.
"So…Dean, huh?" Sam asked her after a long moment.
Julie had to stop, even though she was almost done, because her hand was trembling. "Yeah," she said softly after a long time, getting her emotions under control. "Dean."
Sam hesitated. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay."
A few seconds later, Julie turned back to the first aid kit and pulled out a sterile white bandage. She wrapped Sam's shoulder in it and stepped back. "There. You're all done."
Sam hopped off the Impala and patted the hood. "Alright. Your turn."
Julie raised her eyebrows. "You're not exactly a trained medical professional," she pointed out.
"No, but I'm sure I've got more experience than half of them," he shot back.
Julie hopped up on the Impala. Sam had helped her reset her shoulder before they had even left the maze. They had gotten away from the crowd of cops as quickly as they could, after making sure Johnny Wolfe was alright, and Dean drove them to the nearest gas station. He was inside buying some supplies as Sam and Julie patched each other up.
The bleeding from the cut on Julie's arm wasn't serious enough that she had been too worried about it. Still, Sam insisted on disinfecting it and wrapping it in a bandage. He finished in a couple of minutes, and Julie thanked him.
With no warning, Sam suddenly pulled Julie in for a hug. She didn't hesitate to hug him back, although she had to do it gingerly, because both of her arms were hurt. "It'll be okay, Julie," Sam muttered into her hair. "He'll be okay."
Julie nodded about a dozen times, trying to blink away the tears that were welling up in her eyes. Sam was right. Of course he was. He'd known Dean literally all of his life, watched Dean grow and change and suffer for almost thirty-three years. Sam knew Dean better than anyone, and if he said Dean would be okay, he would be. Sam and Julie would make sure of it.
"Ready to go?" Dean asked. They pulled apart and turned to see him standing nearby. Maybe it was just the dim lighting of a gas station parking lot at midnight, but he looked almost sickly pale. He was holding a coffee in his right hand, and Julie could swear it was sloshing around because of his trembling hand.
For a second, Julie could swear he was about to collapse. He looked weak, sick to the point that it bordered on dangerously unhealthy. Deadly.
Then he forced a grim smile and said, "Don't worry, this is just coffee. No alcohol. As the only non-wounded person here, I am unfortunately the designated driver."
"That's probably best," Sam admitted, wincing as he tried to move his injured shoulder.
The three hunters piled into the Impala, Sam and Dean in the front, and Julie in the backseat. They rode in an exhausted silence, and Julie was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
Unfortunately, so was Dean.
It wasn't even a thirty minute drive to the motel they had reserved for the night, but Dean's body didn't seem to care. For weeks, his body had been giving out. He had been trying to ignore it, but he needed to kill to survive. And now, after the amount of strength it had taken to run around that maze and to face his worst nightmare…Dean was falling apart.
It came suddenly, and without warning. If Dean had felt it coming, he would have pulled the Impala over and stopped on the side of the ride. The two people he loved most in the world were sitting in the car with him!
But there was no warning. Suddenly, something in Dean decided to just quit working, and against his will, Dean's eyes suddenly rolled back into his head and he collapsed, falling forward onto the wheel.
Sam had been drifting off, but he woke up just in time to hear Julie scream as the Impala careened off the road and straight into a tree.
