You saved me, Dean.

Dean could feel that thrumming in his skin, vibrating in his bones, coursing through his veins. He could feel it in the pounding of his heart, in each breath he took, singing in his blood. It grew in power and strength as the boat drew closer to the island, letting out another blast of its horn.

You saved me.

He wasn't even sure what that feeling was, only that it made him want to start laughing. Start crying too. He wanted to cheer, to sing, to just kneel there and thank every deity who wanted thanking. Because Bobby had made it. The boat was here. The nightmare that had been the past three days — what felt like an entire lifetime now — was over. Sam and Cas and Benny and the kids were all going home. They were saved.

Except…

The feeling faded as Dean turned away, looking up out at the beach again. The demons were all staring out at the boat too, a mixture of shock and awe on their faces, black eyes wide. Except that surprise would eventually wear off, and they would return to what they were there to do: Kill them. And even if Dean could hold them off long for the boat to pull into shore, the demons could just shoot at it to disable it, maybe even sink it. Bobby's transport looked like a small fishing boat — it wasn't built to take fire from assault rifles.

No, Dean thought, the drowning feeling from earlier returning. They were so close to getting off the island — the boat was right there — but would they ever get to it? After everything they have been through, with rescue within reach,would they still die on this beach? No, it couldn't end like this, it couldn't—

Don't be afraid.

Those words were like a drowning man breaking the surface of the water and sucking in air again. Dean felt his heart start to pound again as he looked over the demons once more, Andrea's words filling his ears.

Face it head on. Become who you need to be.

But who did he need to be? Dean wondered. He had thought he had that figured out. He had thought he had to be someone who would do anything for their family, no matter the cost… But maybe that wasn't quite it, he realized.

Maybe it was someone who could do anything for their family. Even the impossible.

Dean's heart sped up again, a plan beginning to take shape in his mind. They needed to clear the beach of demons, and if they moved quick enough, maybe they could. The demons were caught off guard right now; if they pushed hard and fast, they might not realize it until it was too later.

Dean swallowed. The idea was insane, probably impossible to pull off… But the feeling from earlier was surging through him again, and it was erasing any doubts. Wasn't that what he was good at? he thought. Making things up as he went?

He looked at Cas as he thought that, the angel's blue eyes shifting to meet his. In those eyes were a few simple words, but they gave Dean all the strength he needed.

You saved me.

Dean's heart pounded again, before he looked around the others. He was going to need some help in this plan, but he couldn't ask Sam. He wasn't sure what his brother's state was, but at the moment he was still clearly disoriented and staring dumbly out at the boat. There was Sophia however, the vampire's yellow eyes flicking to his when Dean turned to her with a grin.

"Wanna' learn how to shoot an assault rifle?" he asked.

If the request was out there, she didn't seem to notice. Her only reaction was a slight lift of her lips, reminiscent of the matriarch's smirk.

"Yes," she said without hesitation, and Dean's grin grew.

Two of the demons seemed to be arguing into their radios, while the others stared out at the boat or looked between each other, confused. None of them noticed Sophia leveling the rifle on the crevice edge, or when she aimed it right toward them. They did notice when she started shooting, the demons letting out yells of surprise and scattering for cover.

That was Dean's cue: He scrambled up over the crevice edge and onto the beach the moment Sophia started shooting, and took off in a full run. (Or what his knee would let him get away with anyway.) He went to the sport he had killed the demon to break through their line, when they had planned to head for the meadow. To stop himself, he had to catch onto the rock she had used as cover, sliding along the dirt before he dropped to the ground next to the body.

The new position meant he was facing all the demons in the line, none of whom knew he was there, all of their attention over on the crevice. Dean was going to take advantage of that, and he went for demon's assault rifle and her supply bag, specifically her ammo clips. He stuffed a few magazines in his pockets, before he he sucked in a deep breath and aimed his new rifle.

Surprise, he thought and then opened fire.

A volley of bullets tore up the side of the first demon in the row, Dean continuing to fire even as she fell. He nailed the second demon too, before the others reacted and turned toward him. Dean didn't give them a chance to return fire, pausing long enough to shout an incoming at Sophia and hurl the supply bag with all his might toward the crevice. Then, he fled for the grass; not a moment too soon either, a hail of bullets flying off rocks in his wake.

Two down, seven to go, he thought, keeping low as he moved through the grass to his next position.

Out on the ocean, the boat blared its horn again, drowning out the gunfire and yells of demons. From the distance, Bobby would probably be able to see the flashes of light from the gunfire, and would know something was wrong. It'd probably drive him to get to the island faster to help, and that in turn drove Dean to hurry. He got to his next spot, stopping at a tree that would serve as his cover and peering over the grass to find the demons again. They hadn't been able to come search for him: Sophia was firing on the them again, forcing them to stay near their covers so they didn't get hit. That was what Dean was counting on, and he set sights on demon number three, squeezing the trigger.

Two down, six more to go. Except now the element of surprise had been lost, and the demons regrouped, able to take charge of the field faster with their numbers. Before Dean could get a shot at demon number four, their leader barked orders that had them splitting off in twos. Two of the demons laid down on the ground next to their covers, out of Dean's line of sight in the grass; two darted into the grass, while the other two aimed their guns right toward him, Dean cursing and ducking back behind his tree.

Gunfire filled the air again, bullets whizzing past Dean or slamming into the tree trunk. It had him cursing again — they didn't have time for another firefight, not when he needed to end this now. He had to think fast too: the two demons who had disappeared in the grass would probably try to flank him, and he'd be in trouble then. He had lost Sophia's support too, the two demons on the ground shooting suppression fire over at the crevice, an onslaught that sent her ducking back for cover.

Shit, Dean thought, looking around for the demons he knew were in the grass. Even with moonlight lighting up the whole beach, it was difficult to see anything in the grass, especially with the ocean wind making it sway. Dean's eyes darted from movement to movement, gun at ready for the first sight of a demon, which was when a bullet slammed into the tree. It sent a spray of bark toward his face, Dean instinctively closing his eyes and raising his arm as a shield.

That was his undoing: His eyes were only closed for a second, but when he opened them up, he saw the first demon on his left. He rose up from the grass, his rifle aimed right him, and Dean cursed again. There was no time to try to shoot back, though he tried anyway, snapping his rifle forward—

Something leapt onto the demon, face an 'O' of surprise before both tumbled into the grass. Dean only got a glimpse of who it was — and holy shit, he thought, shocked — before he glanced over when the other demon in the grass rose up from the grass. "Lucifer's ass!" she yelled, rifle pointing toward her fallen comrade, seeming to forget Dean was there. He seized advantage of that, sucking in a breath, aiming and firing all in two seconds. The bullets hit her side and neck, and she staggered, rifle dropping; it left her complete vulnerable when Dean next nailed her with a headshot, her head blown back before she hit dirt.

He didn't take time to gloat, swiftly turning back to where he had last seen the other demon and his unexpected ally. He couldn't move from his spot with the other demons' bullets keeping him down, but he could at least slide up along the trunk to see if it was actually who he thought it was. And it was: Dean's mouth dropping as he watched her rise up from the grass, her green eyes bright in the moonlight.

"Andrea!" he cried, and then grinned. Holy shit, she was alive. She was alive!

Greetings had to be put on hold though; there were still four other demons to deal with, and two still shooting at him. Andrea and Dean exchanged the quickest of glances, and he was left grinning when she nodded in understanding and then darted back into the grass.

They were going to use the demons' own tactics against them, Dean waiting for a lull in their firing before he twisted around the tree to shoot back. The demons ducked but almost immediately started firing back, which meant they never saw the matriarch coming. Dean watched came up behind the first one, her claws slashing throat before he could even react. The other demon looked over, and then tried to turn his rifle toward him, for all the good that did him. Andrea launched herself at him, latching onto his arm and sending them both to the ground.

Six down, two to go, Dean thought triumphantly, pushing himself off the tree. The only ones left were the demons on the ground who had been firing at the crevice, but both had stopped when they heard their comrade's screams. And now they were in trouble: Sophia and someone else (Sam? Dean thought hopefully) had started shooting back at them, keeping them pinned down. One demon had rolled onto his back, gun along his chest, the weapon aimed toward the forest where Andrea had last been seen. The other was trying to get to her feet, swearing up and down as she did. "I'm going to kill them all by myself." she snarled through gritted teeth. "I swear by Lucifer's—"

Dean didn't give her a chance to finish.

The boat blared its horn again as the roar of gunfire faded from the air, leaving only the sounds of the ocean in its wake. That, and Dean's heaving breathing as he stumbled away from the demons and over to a tree, bracing himself on the trunk. The rush of adrenaline was leaving him almost as fast as it had come to him; he drenched in sweat, his ribs ached and knee throbbed.

But he didn't care, a breathless laugh falling from his lips as he looked out at the boat again. And once he started, he couldn't stop, because holy shit.

They had done it. They had done it. They had pulled off the craziest-ass plan that Dean had ever come up with in ten seconds: The beach clear, the demons dead, and Bobby's boat now had a clear pathway in. And they had done it together: Sophia, Sam, Andrea, even himself. And that had him grinning, the feeling from earlier starting to course through his veins again. It left him feeling invincible, like they could do anything — he could do anything.

And maybe he could, he thought, heart pounding again. No, not maybe. He could. He would. He would save his family. He would save the love of his life. He would save his friends. He would get them home. Nothing was going to stop him now.

First things first though: They had to get on that boat.

With the feeling from before thrumming through him and giving him new energy, Dean pushed himself off the tree. He waved Sophia and Sam to tell them it was okay, both having poked their heads up over the crevice edge to look at him. Then he searched for Andrea, and spotted the matriarch nearby, having slumped against her own tree. She was staring out at the boat, holding her side as she panted heavily, not looking over when Dean stumbled over to her.

"Your boat came," she muttered at him, and Dean let out another breathless laugh.

"And you're fucking alive," he shot back good-naturedly, and then checked her over visually for any injuries. She looked okay, aside from some new cuts and scrapes, and the way she was holding her side. It was hard to tell with her jacket covering it, but it looked bloody. "When the demons showed up here, we thought—"

She glanced at him then, a dribble of sweat making its way down her scarred eye. "Not for the demons' lack of trying, believe me," she said, and then glanced over toward the crevice, worry crossing her face. Her voice became small, but that couldn't hide the fear in it, "The others?" she asked.

Dean nodded quickly to reassure her that yes, they were okay, and the matriarch's eye closed as she let out a sigh of relief. "Benny got banged up pretty bad, but he's alive, don't worry," Dean added quickly, Andrea's eye opening to look at him again. "Everyone else is fine too, and fuck, they'll be thrilled to see you. But what about you? Are you—"

"I'm fine," she muttered gravely, and then pushed to her feet, wavering a little. Her side was clearly still bothering her, but she brushed off Dean's offer to check it. Instead, she looked toward the forest, her nostrils flaring. "We need to hurry, though. We don't have much time."

Dean frowned, confused. Much time?

"They know you're here. I think they knew you were here, too," Andrea explained, and Dean's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I found a group of demons by the river, waiting for a signal to come here. And now they are: I heard it on their radios when the call came in, saying they found you. The monster and the rest of the demons — they're on their way."

Dean's mind went blank at that, stomach dropping like a rock. Uh oh, was all he could think for a moment. (And he couldn't go over what else she had said: The demons had known they were here? The monster had been waiting for them at the river? The same river they had planned to head to when things had gone south here?) He felt a chill go through him as he looked out at the ocean again, seeing the boat was now coming into the bay.

Son of a bitch, he thought. Heart beginning to pound again, he quickly turned back to Andrea.

"How long do we have?" he asked.

Her face grew grim, and Dean cursed again. His mind started to race, but panic was made his thoughts erratic. All he knew was they had to keep the boat away from shore still, but how did they warn Bobby? And how did they get to the boat then? (Were they going to have to swim? Swim in the freezing cold Alaskan waters?) He also knew there were at least seven demons left, if he was remembering right. That meant they would have to defend the beach again, but Dean wasn't they could pull off another crazy-ass plan like the last one. Not with the monster was going to be there too, and oh shit, the monster—

Don't be afraid.

Dean's mind snapped back into focus at those words, his chest heaving as he sucked in air. No, he had to think. He couldn't panic. He couldn't let that get to him, not when they were this damn close to getting off the island. There was a way to warn Bobby, but how? What did they have that could help?They had weapons, the supplies the demons carried and—

Radios.

Dean's heart leapt, and he looked toward the nearest demon. What if they could use a radio to communicate to Bobby and tell him to stay back? And maybe that would solve their other problem too. Knowing Bobby, he'd pack for any sort of emergency — the man was more paranoid than Dean was — and what if he had life rafts on the boat? They'd be smaller, harder as a target to hit… And an even harder target to hit if they could keep the demons distracted while they loaded everyone on the rafts…

The new plan came together like puzzle pieces, and Dean quickly turned to Andrea. "Get to the others," he told her. "I'll explain when I get there, but tell them we're leaving now."

She looked at him in surprise, and maybe even a little wonder, before she nodded once. While she darted off toward the beach, Dean quickly hobbled over to the nearest demon's body. He had seen the demons use the radios a dozen times now — but stupidly hadn't thought to grab one though — and knew they used a wireless headset, with the radio itself strapped to their jackets. He got the headset first and put it on, keeping the radio at his side before he pushed the body over to get to the supply bag. He rummaged inside, looking for one thing in particular, pushing aside ammo packs and water bottle. When he found it, he grinned, pulling the flashlight free from the bag.

He still didn't know why the demons carried them, but like hell was he going to complain right then. He clicked it on to make sure it worked — it did — before he looked back at the ocean, mind racing again. Did he even remember enough morse code so he could signal Bobby…?

Only one way to find out. Dean slid the headset into his ear, hearing a demon speaking on the channel. "Red team, report. Red team, report! Over!"

Red team was probably dead behind him, Dean quickly switching to a new channel. When he confirmed it was clear, he turned the flashlight in the direction of the boat, flicking it on. Then off. On, a little longer. Off again. On, but shorter this time. On. Off. On—

FREQ 14, he told Bobby in the series of light flashes, and he wasn't surprised when the radio crackled to life only a heartbeat later. "Dean? Dean, is that you?"

The rush of emotion Dean felt hearing his voice left him a little dizzy. Fuck, never had Bobby's gravely voice sounded like goddamn music to his ears. Dean didn't even care that it made tears sprang to his eyes. "Yeah, it's me, Bobby, it's me," he replied, voice thick. He could almost see Bobby, trucker hat and flannel and all, clutching the radio as he listened to Dean's reply. "I'm here. I'm okay. I got Sam too. Sammy's alive, Bobby."

Bobby swore on the other line. Regrettably, Dean, knowing Bobby would have a billion questions, quickly cut him off again. "Listen, Bobby, we don't have a lot of time," he said and then glanced behind toward the forest. Did he hear a demon shouting? "We're about to have trouble on our doorstep again, and we got six people we gotta evacuate with us — a vampire family and an angel. Two are badly injured too. But I need you not to come too close to shore, you hear me? I repeat, do not come close to shore. Over."

Bobby's reply was quick. "You want me not to do what?!"

Dean knew that wasn't really a question, and he pressed the radio button again. Plan outline time now. "Listen to me, Bobby! Here's what I need you to do…"

By the time Dean finished outlining his plan to Bobby, and was heading back to the crevice, the demons were definitely close. Their shouts echoed in the air, the radio crackling with their voices when Dean checked their frequency. "Move to red team's last known location," one said, and there were a series of affirmatives. "Yellow team, go in first. Blue and black are right behind you."

"Roger that. Yellow team, ETA about ten minutes."

Son of a bitch, Dean thought as he hobbled back down the beach over to the others. That wasn't a lot of time, was it?

Sam was the first to greet him when Dean slid inside the crevice, his brother blinking up at him with his one good eye. Half of his face was wrapped up in a shirt and tied at the side of his head — the best Dean had been able to do with what he had, leaving his brother looking like a weird-ass pirate. "Dean?" he asked, a dozen questions in that one word alone.

Dean didn't answer right away, looking Sam over and touching the side of his head where a thick line of blood had bleed through the cloth. "Got one hell of a headache, I'm still kind of dizzy and I feel like throwing up," his brother replied to his unspoken question, and then returned to his own. "Dean, what are we going to do?"

"Make it up as we go," he answered, and while Sam's nose wrinkled, he glanced over at the others. Andrea was with her nest: Drake in her arms, Elpis clinging to her side, Sophia and Benny gazing at her like they couldn't believe she was there. Dean looked at Cas next, the angel's expression relieved, like he had been worried he wasn't coming back.

It made Dean want to reach over and touch him to reassure him (himself too, actually), but they didn't have time.

With everyone looking at him, it was time for plan outline number two. "Listen up, everyone. We don't have much time left. We got demons on the way, and Dick is with them. The first group will be here in ten minutes."

Everyone reacted in various ways to that news: Sam's one eye went wide, the vampires exchanged fearful glances, Cas tensed. (Andrea was the only one who didn't react, but she did know about it already.) Dean pointed out to the boat, where Bobby had pulled it to a stop a safe distance away from shore. He had turned on all the boat's lights too, and it lit up the whole beach, almost too bright to look at. On deck, they could see movement, and an unmistakeable orange raft being dropped into the water. That prompted Dean to continue, looking at the others again.

"We got two rafts coming in. Andrea, you and your family get one, and you're going to take off for the boat as soon as you're in. If the demons get here before we've made it the beach, we don't want to give them a target any longer than we have to. Sammy, you're second raft. You and Bobby load up Cas, and we take off as soon as Andrea's raft is clear and out in open water."

It would take time for the rafts to get past the waves, and they would need protecting until they were. Andrea nodded at Dean, while Sam's one eye narrowed. "And you?" he asked, Dean glancing back over at him.

"I'll be on point, watching our backs," he said, and Sam frowned. Dean looked back at the others. "But if the demons show up before the rafts do, we need to all work together to keep them back. We can pin them up on the beach if we do this right, and we'll be long gone before they catch up to us."

Despite the solid plan, everyone still looked uneasy. Probably because Dean hadn't mentioned the elephant in the room: Mainly, what they would do if the monster showed up. But he was trying not to think about that, knowing what it would do to them if they did. Fear could so easily paralyze them, especially when it came to the monster; he could even feel it even now, tiny bursts of panic only controlled by three simple words, Don't be afraid.

No. They had to think about what was going right for them, and that Dean was happy to remind them about.

"We're almost there. We're almost off this island," he told them, and the others looked over at him again. The feeling from earlier came surging through him once more, making his voice stronger, putting a confident smirk on his face. "We've came a long way, all of us. We bled, and we suffered and we gave up, thinking the monster was right. That we were just meat. That nothing we did mattered. That there was no reason to hope."

Sam swallowed tightly; the vampires watched him with various expressions of thoughtfulness and awe. Cas looked at him at with sheer wonder in his eyes, like he couldn't believe Dean was real. Dean almost couldn't believe it himself, but the feeling coursing through him was something he could name now: Conviction. Hope. Righteousness. That was who he was all along, wasn't heit? Buried away, only glimpses of it coming through, but now? Now it was free.

"But there is reason to hope, there always was," he continued, and his smirk grew. "We fought back. We did the impossible: Held our own against the demons and hellhounds. And now we're about to pull off the impossible, again. We're about to prove the monster wrong. We're about to show him what nothings can do. And best of all? We're going home too."

Those words had an immediate effect on the others — Dean could see how much the word home meant to everyone. Sam looked away from him, and Dean knew he was thinking about Jess and the twins. The vampires looked at each other as well, Andrea reaching for Benny's free hand as she gazed over the children, lips sliding toward a smile. Cas was the only one who didn't look away, staring up at Dean like he had never seen anything like him. Dean couldn't help but look at him back, and it gave him the strength to say what he said next, and believe it like he had never believed in anything else before.

"We can do this. We can do anything."

They could, and Dean saw it the moment everyone believed it too. He could see it in their eyes and their slow smiles: The same feeling he had inside him growing in them too.

We can do anything.

He felt a hand curl around his wrist then, and pull lightly; he turned back to Cas, and the angel then moved his hand up to cup his face. There was so much in Cas's blue, blue eyes: pride, and hope, and maybe even love. He traced his hand across Dean's cheek, thumb brushing his lips; his voice croaked when he whispered, "We're going home."

"We are," Dean replied, and his heart lifted when Cas's lips slid toward the smallest smile. It was a sight that he had been convinced he would never see again, and he had to marvel at it. It was also what drew him in just as the angel pulled him in too, Cas pressing their lips together.

The kiss was gentle, slow, so much like their first one, but so much more too. Dean sank into it, reaching up to lightly grasp Cas's wrist, eyes slipping closed. The kiss was a memory of warm blue eyes and a warm smile, the thought of hamburgers and cars, you have me and it's okay all rolled into one. It was shared meals, shared smiles, laughter and jokes and a promise within a promise. Words whispered in the dark in dying firelight — I want to live for you; words whispered as a boat's light shone on them — I remember you.

You saved me.

A kiss over far too, both breaking apart when the radio crackled to life.

"Yellow team has arrived."

The demons were here. Dean's heart started to pound again as he pulled away from Cas, looking out toward the ocean first. Bobby was only halfway to them, his rafts bobbing up and down in the open water, only able to move so fast. Dean quickly glanced at the others, but Sophia and Sam were already reloading their rifles, and Andrea looked ready to murder anyone with her eye alone. (And Dean didn't have any doubts she would if she could.) They were ready to fight then, and Dean's heart lifted before he turned back to Cas, taking in the sight of his blue eyes once again.

As Cas looked back at him, stroking his cheek in reassurance, Dean couldn't help but remember something the angel had said to him so long ago. "Let us strike them, Dean," he had said, Dean remembering how he had almost been able to see Cas's silver-and-blue armor and great black wings again. "Let us show them what an angel is capable of; what a human is capable of. Let's show them why they should fear us."

Let's, Dean agreed again, and Cas nodded once.

The energy of that made Dean rise up, swinging his own rifle forward. "Alright everyone, this is it," he said, and everyone looked at him. "We can do this, don't forget that!"

They nodded at him, and Dean grinned, before he was pushing himself up and out of the crevice. He ignored his knee as he ran for a log that was close by, knowing it was the best place to take point. Earlier, in the crevice, they barely had any room to maneuver, and the demons too easily had kept them pinned down, with no way to flank if they needed to. Dean wasn't going to let that happen this time…

"Dean!" Sam yelled at him, and Dean winced. He probably should have told Sam that...

He reached the log not a moment too soon: Two demons emerged from the forest just as he did, darting forward through the grass and trees. They didn't see him either, and Dean leveled his rifle on the log, lining one up in his sights. He sucked in a deep breath again, letting it calm his heart and focus him.

Don't be afraid, his mind whispered to him one last time.

I'm not, Dean promised, and opened fire.

He hit one of the demons in the chest, shoulder and arm, sending him toppling over with a gurgling yell. That sent the other two scrambling for cover, reaching it just as Sophia and Sam starting shooting. Dean could hear the demons yelling at each other as he lined up his weapon again, aiming for the demon he could poking his head to try to take in the field. He fired, but missed, the demon throwing himself back behind the cover just in time.

That was alright though; if they couldn't kill them, they just needed to keep them back. And with Sam and Sophia's help, they were doing so — though they had to expand their range when three more demons came in. Dean took in his new targets, and readjusted his aim, and fired again and again and again.

He lost track of how long they were shooting for, but he realized quickly that the plan was working. Miracle of miracles, they were keeping the demons back: every time they tried, one of their bullets was waiting for them, sending them back to cover. The demons shot back at them of course — when they had to reload especially, and things quickly escalated it into a firefight, bullets flying everywhere. But they were holding their own — best of all, there was no sign of the monster either. Maybe they would get off the island before he showed up, Dean found himself thinking. Maybe...

In that time, the rafts landed, Dean noticing that when he had to stop to reload. He saw them briefly out in the ocean, and it looked like Andrea was swimming to meet them. The next time he glanced back, he couldn't see them at all, which meant they could only be in one place: The beach. His heart really got going when he looked over the next time, seeing Sophia was gone and in her place, Bobby. He had his trucker hat and all on, and a rifle too. Dean couldn't help his grin when he started firing — hell, that brought back memories — and it had the added bonus of Bobby being a much, much better shot than any of them. He scored a hit on his first try too, hitting the demon who had come out of cover when Sophia started firing. Dean heard him cursing as he fell, clutching at his shoulder.

Then the first boat was off; Dean saw it bobbing in the water as the vampires peddled hard to get past the waves that threatened to push them back. Then his heart was like a jackhammer; so close, so close, he started thinking. They were so close.

Then, it was their turn. "Dean!" Sam yelled over the gunfire and Dean looked back at him. He could see the vampires' life raft out on the ocean, and his brother waving frantically at him, the signal it was time.

Dean hesitated before he did, looking back at the demons. There were only three on the beach now, the last two and Dick nowhere in sight. Dean figured they were close though — they had to be — but he wasn't sticking around to find out. Instead he focused on getting his last few volleys in, waiting for the demons he was shooting at to duck. Then, bracing himself on the log first, he threw himself into a run, heading right for the crevice.

Sam and Bobby covered him as he ran, Dean ducked low as he did, so the demons didn't have a bullseye on his back. He knew the second he got to the crevice, he was going to start firing again before the demons tried to move up the beach after him. But from there, they would all load up on the raft, and hopefully they'd be halfway to the open ocean before the demons made it to the crevice. They were so close, Dean could almost taste it. They were going to do this. They were going to do this.

Sam waved at him again, encouraging him to hurry, but Dean saw the second his face fell. He was looking at something past him, and instinctively, Dean glanced over his shoulder to see what it was.

He only got the briefest glimpse — a tall figure coming onto the beach, form familiar even from the distance. It was the monster, and Dean saw that he had his hunting rifle up, aimed right at him.

It was the last thing Dean saw before his bad knee exploded with pain. The shockwaves that went through him made him see white — he could hear himself screaming, smell his blood on the air, feel himself fall — and then everything, everything, went black.