June 8, 2006

"Wake up!" A hand shook Sam's shoulder. "Come on, man!"

A searing pain ripped through Sam's forehead as he opened his eyes. He's lying on a cold hardwood floor in a dirty building. He guessed it was a house. Without any furniture it's hard to say. A man wearing a plaid button-down over a Nirvana t-shirt is shaking his shoulder. His eyes darted nervously toward the door as he looked down at Sam.

"Where am I?" Sam muttered, wincing at his awakening.

"Fuck if I know. But I'd get moving if you want to live. Some chick's out there killing anyone she can get a clear view of for more than a few seconds."

Sam shifted his weight to lean on his side, "What? How?"

"Sorry I don't have any answers right now, but all I know is that I saw some guy collapse when she just looked at him, another started gushing blood out his nose before he fell over. I'm guessing she can mess with your head and cause aneurysms, but I could be wrong."

"Wait-why is she just killing people?"

"Everyone is. It's like fucking Battle Royale out there. Only everyone's a super-powered freak."

Sam blinked, "You have superpowers?"

"Kinda-all I can do is this." He flicked his wrist and a small flash of fire appeared. "But that's beside the point." He shook his wrist and the flame disappeared, "Since you somehow missed the wake-up call I'll give you the cliffnotes. About an hour ago a guy appeared in the middle of this haunted-ass ghost town and declared himself a demon. He said some different demon guy rounded us all up here and that we were 'special'. Apparently we all have powers because of some demon blood in our system. Which I totally wanted to find out… He wanted to find out who's the strongest and said that the last one standing gets some special honor. That's when a few of the less stable of our cohorts decided to take that as a challenge and started offing everyone in sight. There were probably thirty of us to start; I'd say there's about half that now."

"Jesus…"

"If you believe in that kind of thing, sure." He sighed, "Look, I'm just trying to get the hell out of here. I saw a road when I was running for my life earlier and I figure I might use it to try to get back to my shitty retail job selling knock-off appliances back in Jersey. Didn't expect to find someone here, but I figure I didn't want to let someone else die without at least trying to get outta here." He glanced toward the door again, "Let's get upstairs and find a window, I want to see what's going on out there. I'm R.J. by the way, Randall Joseph Burton for long."

"Sam… Sam Beretta." Sam stuttered as he got up, every fiber of his body screaming that he shouldn't be moving as he hoisted himself onto his feet with R.J's assistance.

"Well Sam, let's hope you're good in a fight because I would love to not die today…" He smiled, clasping Sam's shoulder as he led up the stairs.

Dean didn't even bother knocking when he got to Bobby's. Fifteen years of rugby and twenty of martial arts meant that Dean had a pretty good grasp of what his body could do. A wooden door wasn't too much of a challenge-even with a deadbolt. As he shoulder-checked the door for the third time the hinges released, leaving nothing between the angry brother and Bobby.

"Listen you sonuvabitch! I want my brother, and I swear to fucking Christ almighty I will kick your ass and any other psycho you send after me." Dean roared as he entered the house.

Dean heard a gun click as Bobby stepped out from the doorway to the living room; he had a clear shot on his head. "I don't take kindly to people busting down my front door unannounced. Get the fuck out of here before I have to make a Jackson Pollock." Bobby locked eyes with Dean, his brown challenging Dean's hazel.

Dean charged Bobby before he could manage to get a shot off and landed on top of the older man. He threw the gun well out of reach before pinning him. "Give me my brother." Dean growled, nearly feral.

"I don't know where Sam is!"

"Yeah right. You convince him that there's demons and all sorts of stuff that goes bump in the night to scare him and try to feed on his mental condition. You lured him here once to do-God knows what-before I managed to get here-so where is he this time?" Dean leaned his weight on Bobby's chest, knowing he could break his ribs if he wanted to.

Bobby rocked under Dean's arm and managed to flip him off of him, rolling toward the sofa. He quickly stood up as Dean did, the two men engaged in a stand-off. "I don't have your brother! If he's missing it probably has something to do with the fact that he has demon blood in 'em."

"Yeah, and he's totally not tied up in your basement…" Dean scowled, "I've seen enough episodes of Criminal Minds to know how this ends, so make this easy on yourself. Give me my brother and get the fuck out of my life or I will make sure you're spending the rest of yours behind bars." The second I get Sammy and get out of here I'm calling the cops anyway.

"Christ you're dense-"Bobby exhaled, "The supernatural is real you ass! Chances are your brother's special little secret was found out and that's why he's missing. Have you ever considered that maybe there's more to life than just what you've seen?! Demons are real, and I imagine they wouldn't be thrilled about some kid going around with their blood in his system."

"Look. If you think that monsters and ghouls are real, fine. But leave me out of it. Just give me my brother!" Dean charged Bobby, tackling him to the ground and sending a flurry of papers into the air. Bobby retaliated with a quick jab to Dean's jaw, then the two were at it. The next ten minutes were best described as chaotic violence. While neither Dean nor Bobby wanted to inflict serious harm to the other, by the end of the brawl both were worse for wear.

Dean stood up and spat out a gob of blood and saliva as he wiped at a broken lip, "Why won't you just tell me?!"

"Because I don't know where he is! I told you he probably got got by demons!" Bobby responded, cracking his back as he tried to shift an injured shoulder.

Dean sat on the ground defeated. It's over. Bobby doesn't know where Sam is. He's probably halfway across the country in the back of some creep's van or strapped to a mattress or… Dean placed his head in his hands and grabbed his hair as he tried to keep himself together.

"Boy, look, I know you're scared and want to find you brother-but wrecking my house and beating me senseless won't help you do that. I realize you don't think the supernatural is real, but if you want my help I can at least try a few connections to see if anyone's seen your brother or something that might lead to him." Bobby took pity on the man sitting in the middle of his living room trying to hold back tears.

Dean looked up, "Why not?" He looked around at the trashed living room, "Sorry about your house…" He grimaced at the bruise that would surely become a shiner on Bobby's face, "And your face…"

"Dean, I've lived through worse. Not necessarily from a regular pissed off human, but I've lived through worse."

The second story of the ramshackle house had a few windows facing the main street, which allowed a good view of the carnage and ongoing slaughter.

"That's her-the chick who can fry your brain just by looking at you." R.J. motioned toward a blonde wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. She was currently using her powers on a man wearing glasses and a green polo shirt. He was twitching as blood started to trickle from his nose.

"Oh my God…" Sam cringed as he looked away.

"Yeah. It's a bloodbath out there." R.J. responded with hollow eyes, "But if we can hide until dark I figure we can try to skate out down that road." He pointed at a path leading out of the town through the thick surrounding forest, "Maybe we can run into a park ranger or something and get back to civilization… It's a long shot, but I don't have any other ideas."

Sam mulled over the option in his mind. It'll be harder to see in the dark, so there's a better chance we can escape-but at the same time, it'll be harder to see anyone following us… "Okay." He hesitantly replied.

"Good. Now all we have to do is survive the next few hours."

The sun set sometime around 9:20, but Sam and R.J. both agreed it made sense to wait until after twilight to try to escape. The afternoon and evening had been the two of them taking turns resting with the other watching guard, making sure they had enough energy for the trek ahead. As they snuck out of the building and crept toward the road Sam was feeling light headed and dizzy, tell-tale signs his blood sugar was reaching a dangerously low point after an entire day without food or insulin.

They hadn't seen anyone else for a few hours from their second floor vantage point, and as Sam's clock ticked over to 11:00 and they started their hike back towards humanity he hoped he could handle the journey.