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Dawn Of The Winchester

Chapter Six: Reunited

Wyoming — Cabin — 12:02 PM.

Dean stepped into the cabin, and the sight before him took him by surprise. It was nothing like he had imagined. The place was nice, like a real summer home, and he had to wonder who had owned it before they had crashed there. It was clean, unlike most of the motels they usually stayed in, and it crossed his mind that his absence had left them a noticeable difference in mess. There were weapons everywhere he turned, guns, knives, machetes, everything, always within reaching distance. There were books stacked up on the table in the center of the room, on the larger dining table he could see in the kitchen, and he wondered how much time they had spent there reading them while they had been there. The windows were boarded up, and only thin strips of sunlight made it through. Were they simply hiding out there? Or was it somewhere they could research?

"Danielle?" A voice called from somewhere within the house, and Dean found himself smiling at the sound. "That you?"

Sam stepped out of the kitchen, a concerned frown on his face at the silence, but he came to an abrupt halt as his eyes fell to him. "Heya, Sammy." he greeted simply. "Long time, no see."

"Dean?" he breathed out, and he couldn't tell if he sounded more shocked or relieved. He looked stunned. "Oh my god."

Sam crossed the room, a determined frown on his face, everything else momentarily forgotten, and wrapped his arms around him tightly. Dean smiled a little and brought up his arms to hug him back. The idea had crossed his mind more than once that he would never see him again, the same as it had crossed Sam's. It felt like a lifetime since they had seen each other, and Dean found himself unable to remember clearly when that time was.

Sam was the first of them to pull back, but the smile never faded from his face. "How did you find us?" he pressed, curious. "Where's Danielle? Have you seen her? Is she with you?"

Dean held up his hands to stop him, because he could see his brother's brain working on overtime already. "Danielle's fine." he stated, calm. "She's outside, she'll be back in a minute." He stepped further inside and pulled off his jacket. "Speaking of Danielle," Dean continued, he was concerned, it was more than evident in his face at just the mention of her name. "How is she?" he chanced, not sure that he was going to like the answer he got. "She seems... I don't know," He sighed. "You know, for a minute, I didn't even recognize her." His voice was low, far off, as though he were lost deep in thought. There was a fear behind his words, and Sam understood it, because she had changed, there was no denying that. "I mean, I don't know what it was, but she looked so different. She looked so... angry. So much older."

"She is angry." Sam replied simply. "She has been since we left Idaho. I think most of that is at me. I don't know. Ever since we left you there, she's been lost. I know it sounds stupid, but I think she's scared, Dean." he offered. "I think this thing scares her, more than she's letting on." He looked down, as though ashamed. "I'm sorry, Dean. I am. But I couldn't let her stay there. She would have died. We were drawing them to you. We made sure that you were safe in that room—"

"Hey." Dean held up a hand to stop him before he could say anything more. "I'm not asking for an explanation. I get it, man, I do. You made the right call. No question." Sam offered a weak smile, but he didn't look convinced. "You actually dragged her out of there?"

Sam nodded. "Kicking and screaming."

Dean huffed a laugh, because he could imagine it. "Well, I'm glad you did." he said, sincere. "I'm guessing she didn't take that too well?"

"Are you kidding?" Sam shook his head. "I'm still getting the cold shoulder now."

But all Dean did was chuckle at the thought, as though there was nothing to be concerned about. "She'll get over it." he assured. "You know how many times she's been pissed at me over the years? She always gets over it."

"This is different." he muttered, despondent. "It's not like I beat up her boyfriend or dyed her hair pink. This was big."

"Hey, Danielle can't hold a grudge against family to save her life. Trust me. She will get over it." He gave a reassuring nod. "I mean, she hasn't thrown you into a pile of monsters to be eaten yet, has she? So I'd say you're doing good." He smiled a little. "If she'd had that opportunity at sixteen I don't think I'd be sitting here now."

It was a lame attempt at a joke, but Sam found himself smiling all the same. "Man, I've missed you."

Before Dean could even think up a response, the door behind them opened once again. Danielle stepped inside and threw them a quick smile, somewhat awkward, as if to say that she knew exactly what they had been talking about. "You want a beer?" she asked simply.

Dean cracked a smile. "Let me guess, more looting?" he pressed, eyebrows raised. "You're getting quite the little criminal."

Sam and Dean followed her towards the kitchen, and watched as she pulled out three beers. She set them on the table and they all sat down there. "So, what the hell is this?" Dean asked them, curious, taking a drink of his beer. "I mean, what happened?"

Danielle popped the cap off her own beer and offered a shrug. She pondered the question for a moment. "You know the old saying, Dean, when there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth."

Dean shook his head at her, an amused smile playing on his face. "This isn't dawn of the dead, Dan."

"Well, looking at you I'd say more Shaun of the dead, but, okay." she quipped, and she pushed herself up to sit on the kitchen counter. "Whatever you say."

Dean shot her a look. "Very funny."

"She's not far off, Dean." Sam offered, thoughtful. "I mean, what other word can you use for this but—"

"Don't, Sam." he stopped him. "Don't even say it. We are not using the Z word."

Sam frowned, confused. "Why not?"

"Because it's ridiculous." he countered. "I mean, no. Ghosts, vamps, whatever. Zombies aren't real."

"Then what the hell are they, huh?" Danielle challenged him. "There are dead people walking around the streets, eating people. If that's not a zombie then what the hell is it? Tell us." But Dean said nothing. "You know the guy that refuses to acknowledge the zombies is always the first in the movie to have his brains eaten, right? Those Romero marathons weren't for nothing. We've researched for this, bro. Don't be that guy."

Despite everything, Dean found himself smiling. "You're an idiot." he remarked, a fondness to his tone. "Seriously. You're an idiot."

"Hmm." A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. "But you know I'm right."

Dean rolled his eyes. "So, what?" he pressed. "Are we calling this another apocalypse, or...?"

"I don't know," Sam sighed. "But it's not good. Whatever this thing is, it's getting worse."

"Have you heard anything from anyone? I mean, hunters? Angels? Demons?" he asked. "Someone has to be behind this."

Danielle shook her head. "There's nothing, Dean." she said, and he didn't miss the concern that showed in her words. "No signs of demons, no omens. Hell, it's been weeks since we've even caught onto a hunt. It's like everything just stopped when these things showed up." She sighed. "I mean, we've tried to summon Crowley a million times, nothing works."

Dean looked puzzled. "Crowley?"

She offered a shrug. "Yeah, I mean, he's a leach and we can't trust him, but—"

Dean frowned at her. "There's a but?"

"But, if anyone down there knows anything, it's gotta be him, right?" she continued. "He can't just chose not to show up when we summon him, he's gone. Everything is gone."

"Huh." Dean frowned. "That is weird. So, what you're telling me here is that we have absolutely no leads on this whatsoever."

Sam sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing concrete." he muttered, despondent. "I mean, there's nowhere real to do any research. Everything on the internet is just shadowed out by conspiracy theories and movie trivia. And now we don't even have that. It's not like we can just head out to the library."

Danielle chuckled, and both brothers looked to her as if to ask what she was finding so funny at a time like that. "You know, when it first started, he spent an hour on this site thinking he was making some major progress in finding out what had happened," There was nothing but amusement shining in her eyes, and Dean noted how Sam seemed to look away as though he knew what was to come. "You know what it was?" Dean raised an eyebrow. "Which zombie movie character would you be?"

Dean looked to his brother, perplexed. "How'd you even make that mistake?" he huffed a laugh, and then his tone became serious. "Who'd you get?"

Sam rolled his eyes, exasperated. "That's not important."

"Dan?" he pressed, curious.

Danielle shook her head. "He wouldn't tell me."

Sam held up his hands. "Look, this is beside the point." he stated. "We got an apocalypse happening and we have no idea how, or why, or who started it."

Danielle scoffed. "My money's still on the angels." she remarked.

Dean's eyes narrowed in curiosity. "Why?" he pressed. "What makes you think it's them?"

"Because they're evil, sick bastards." she stated. "What more reason do you need? I also find it really convenient that no one has seen or heard from them since this whole thing started. Normally they can't wait to get all up in our faces, so where are they?"

Dean gave a thoughtful nod, and something else occurred to him. There was someone missing. "So, speaking of angels. Where's Cas these days? Doesn't he know anything about this?"

"Cas is AWOL." she muttered, and he didn't miss the note of concern in her words. "He went off looking for some kind of answer and we haven't heard from him since. We have no idea what happened to him. Hell, he could be dead for all we know."

"Oh, this is awesome." he remarked, sarcastic. "Really."

Sam sighed. "Well, whatever it is, I don't think it's ending any time soon." he muttered, despondent.

"How does it end?" Danielle asked, maybe more to herself than to them.

They both turned to her, frowning. "What does that mean?" Dean asked.

"I mean, when does it end?" She looked between them and offered a shrug. "What? When everyone's bitten? Half the planet is walking around dead. How does that end? When does it stop?"

Dean shook his head slowly. It wasn't something he liked to think about. "That is a good question." he muttered. "Another good question, couldn't help but notice you haven't bothered to board up your front door." He looked between them, eyebrows raised, expectant. "Care to explain?"

Danielle raised an eyebrow. "How are we supposed to get in and out if the doors boarded up?" she asked, as though he had been stupid for even asking.

His face dropped. "Are you joking?"

"Of course I'm joking." she remarked. "We do board it up, just, not all the time. Not when one of us is out." She shrugged. "And, besides, for the most part, it's pretty quiet up here. Only seen two or three of them this far up since we got here. They're all down in the city. As long as we're careful and don't get followed, we should stay safe here."

"So what," Dean pressed. "You're just making trips down there to kill them?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Danielle offered. "I mean, at this point, we don't know what else we can do. Until we find a way to stop this, or to save them, we're just doing what we always do. Take out the monster. Seems the most logical thing to do, I guess."

"But, it's not that easy." Sam stated. "I mean, once you're bitten, there's no changing it. Depending on how long it takes you to die depends on how long you have left. Once you die it takes about ten minutes. They shake, and, I don't know, they look like they're in pain, like they're burning alive from the inside, and then they go still, they've got about a minute before they come back, and the only way to take them out is a bullet to the head."

Dean nodded slowly, and Sam noted the look on his face. It didn't look as though it was fresh news to him. He also noted the look on his sister's face. "What?" He pressed, confused. "What's happened?"

"I, uh, I've seen it happen." He cleared his throat, somewhat awkward. "Garth's dead."

"Garth?" Sam looked more than confused. "How come you were with Garth?"

"I found him, he was helping me track you guys down. We got to the state line and," He shrugged. "There were so many of them. He got bit and, he turned. I shot him."

Sam shook his head, and it took him a long moment to even process what he had been told. "Poor guy."

Dean gave a weak nod. "Didn't deserve to go that way." he muttered, glum. "We need to stop this thing. We need to end it."

"That's easier said than done, Dean." He muttered. "Where do we even start?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. But we're gonna find out."

Wyoming — Cabin — 02:21 PM

Dean headed out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel through his wet hair. The biggest concern he had at that point was how much he seriously missed hot water, and he was ready to comment, but he closed his mouth quickly at the sight before him. He glanced from his sister, who stood with her lips pursed and hands on her hips, to his brother, whose arms were folded tightly over his chest and his face matched hers perfectly. He had a feeling that he had walked in at a bad time.

Sam waved a hand at her, exasperated, and shook his head. "You know we're running low on ammo, right?" He sounded pissed, and Dean wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were fighting about.

Danielle rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, Sam, I'm aware." she snapped. "You've said so six times."

"And you know where the ammo is, right?" he pressed, impatient.

"Yes, Sam, I'm aware." she said again, a little harsher. "But I'm telling you now, it's not happening."

Dean frowned a little, he had never seen them appear so angry at each other before, and since he had returned it seemed like it was happening more and more. "What's going on?" he pressed, curious.

Sam and Danielle both turned to face him, neither seeming to have noticed his presence until then. Danielle huffed a dry laugh and threw up her hands. "Fill him in, Sam." she pressed.

Dean turned to him, expectant, and Sam sighed. "We need more guns." he stated simply. "And more bullets."

Dean's eyes narrowed. "I'm not disagreeing."

Sam nodded. "We need to go back to the Impala." he stated. "We have an arsenal in there."

Danielle shook her head. "It's too dangerous."

"She's right, Sam." Dean offered, and he couldn't tell which of them looked more surprised by his statement. Danielle looked stunned, but Sam looked offended. He held up his hands in defense. "Look, I'm not taking sides here, but she's right, we can't go back to the Impala. Not after yesterday. The place was crawling with them, we wouldn't stand a chance."

Sam frowned. "So, where?" He looked to his sister. "Where do you suggest that's so much safer?"

"I don't know, Sam." she sighed, and she dropped down heavily to sit in one of the chairs at the table, her head in her hands. "Gun store? There's gotta be one around here somewhere."

"There is." Dean suddenly said. "There's one in town? Or, at least, there was. Remember, the Werewolf hunt?"

Danielle frowned for a moment, and then a slight smirk crossed her face. "Oh, yeah." She huffed a laugh. "Good times."

Sam frowned between them, as though asking for an explanation. "We, uh, we got arrested there once, a long time ago." Dean muttered, and Sam noted the smile on his face as he thought back. "There was a hunt, Dan and I were like top suspects for this murder, the cops were already watching us, once they'd seen us in a gun store that was it. We were behind bars for like a week while they built this huge case against us. We were so sure we were going down for it."

Sam frowned. "What happened?"

"Dad had to come bail us out." he smirked. "We spent the whole week sat in jail thinking he was gonna kill us when he came back. I think he actually laughed at us for getting caught."

Sam offered a smile. "So, we'll make a run to the gun store." he concluded. "Simple."

"Simple." Danielle scoffed. "Right. I'm glad that you think this is all so simple. We don't know how many of them are out there, we have barely any guns, but, no, it's all so simple."

Dean rolled his eyes at her. "Are you in, or are you out?" he pressed, expectant.

Danielle huffed, and she pushed herself to stand. "What do you think?" she muttered as she crossed the room towards the bathroom.

The door slammed closed behind her and Dean smirked, turning to his brother. "You ready for this?"

"Guess so." Sam stated. "I'll go get some weapons together."

Dean watched him go, and he gave a light sigh. He couldn't understand how things were so different with them. He hadn't been gone that long, and yet it seemed like a lifetime of changes had occurred in his absence. He had never known his siblings so angry at each other, so frustrated and unable to get along. His sister was acting like a completely different person. He couldn't understand her sudden reluctance to hunt, to go near anything dangerous. She had never been that way before. She had never shied away from a hunt or claimed a situation to be too dangerous. It didn't seem right. And he wanted to know what had happened while he had been gone.

Dean slammed the trunk of his sister's car closed, the limited number of weapons inside was something he didn't want to dwell on. If they ran into another army like the one they had faced before, they had no chance of fighting their way out alive. He jumped a little in surprise as two small hands pressed down on his shoulders. Before he could even process a thought, before he could even think to react, someone was on his back and a set of teeth were pressed to his neck. He turned rapidly and the body dropped from him. His hand gripped his neck instantly, but there was no blood, the skin wasn't broken. He looked up to his sister, who stood before him. There were tears in her eyes as she tried in vein to control her laughter, and he frowned.

"You've gotta be quicker than that, bro." she quipped.

"What the hell, Dan?!" He shoved her in the shoulder, and fought back a smile of his own. "You're not funny. I could have shot you!"

Danielle shook her head, trying to control her breathing, and held up a hand to him. "Nice try, bro. You don't have a gun."

Dean's eyes narrowed at her, and his hand automatically reached to the back of his jeans just to prove her wrong, but his smirk faded quickly, and he remembered leaving it on the kitchen table as he had left the house. "Shut up."

Danielle laughed, and she handed his gun to him. "The look on your face." she remarked, shaking her head.

A smile tugged at his lips, because it had been a long time since he had seen his sister laugh like that. "You're so dead, kid." he remarked, and he watched as she waved him off and pulled a pack of cigarettes from her back pocket. "That's a bad habit, you know."

Danielle rolled her eyes as she lit the cigarette. "I think we have worse ones." she remarked.

But Dean knew there was something more behind it. There had to be a reason she had started smoking again after so long. "What's going on with you, Dani? Really?" he pressed, curious. "You seem so, I don't know, different. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," She nodded. "I'm fine. Really. You don't need to worry about me, Dean."

Dean wasn't convinced, and she knew that, but it wasn't the time to fight about it, and so he nodded. "Sure."

The car came to a stop in town, and the three of them sat there in silence for a long moment. There were only a few of them around, not too many to pass through, and suddenly things didn't seem so bad.

"Okay," Danielle was the first of them to speak. "The gun store should be just around that block, so what's the plan here?" she asked, looking to her right, expectant.

Dean shrugged. "Don't die." he offered.

"That's it?" Sam frowned. "That's your plan?"

"Best I've got." he muttered. "Either of you got a better one?" Neither of them spoke. "No? Okay, then. Let's move."

The three of them climbed from the car in silence, careful not to slam the doors too loudly so not to draw attention to themselves. They headed down the street, none of them speaking a word, and turned the corner at the end of the road. The sight before them brought them all to a halt.

"Ah." Danielle stated, a frown on her face. "That complicates things."

There were monsters everywhere they looked, completely covering the road. "You think?" Dean shook his head. "Come on."

They turned back to the road and found dozens more of them approaching from the other side of the street. Suddenly, they were surrounded and they had nowhere to run. They crowded around them and all they could do was back away. In a brief moment, Dean lost sight of his brother. He was lost in the hoard, and none of them had any weapons.

"Sammy?!" he yelled, but there was no response. "Danielle, we gotta move, kid. Come on."

Danielle's eyes scanned the crowd frantically, searching for their brother. "But—"

"Now." He grabbed a firm hold of her arm and pulled her towards him. They ran straight through the middle of them, the same as Sam had probably done. He couldn't even see where they were going, all he could hear were growls. Hands grabbed loosely at their jackets but they moved faster. They came to the other side and he shook his head. They were everywhere. All they could do at that point was back away. He felt his back hit something, and his stomach dropped. They were literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or, rather, a truck and an army of flesh eating monsters. "Now what?" he pressed, looking to his sister for some kind of an idea, because he sure as hell didn't have one.

Danielle turned, and she nodded. "Come on." He looked up at the truck that had crashed against the side of the building and sighed. There was no way it was going to end well for them. He held out his palms flat and nodded at her. Her boot found his hands and he pushed her up. She pulled herself to the top of it and looked back to him. They didn't have much time. Monsters crowded him, and she was so sure that he wasn't going to make it.

Danielle reached down, frantically trying to reach him, but there was nothing. Suddenly, making her jump, a hand gripped hers, and a sense of relief washed through her. There were creatures moving towards him slowly, growing closer, dozens of them. "Dean!" she pulled, but it was a struggle. His legs were dangling and just free to be bitten. "Come on, Dean!" His free hand gripped to the edge of the roof, and he pulled himself up. He gripped her arm and they backed away from the edge, eyes wide.

"They're gonna get up here." He said, his eyes wide. "What the hell are we supposed to do?"

Her eyes fell to the building behind them, and then to the door just a few feet to the side of them, and she nodded. "Come on." she muttered. He watched on as she jumped from the front of the truck and landed on the side walk. He followed her, and they followed him. They were right behind them. Danielle ran towards the door of the building and kicked open the door. They ran into a hallway, and the place was crawling with monsters. "Shit." she muttered. "Run."

They ran through the middle of the building towards a staircase, and together they ran and they ran until they reached the top floor. They were both out of breath, adrenaline running, as Dean pushed open the fire door before them and they stepped out into the cold night air.

They stood there on the roof and looked out over the crowded road, they seemed to be multiplying by the second. They were completely surrounded. Dean shook his head slowly, it was only a matter of time before they found a way to them, and there were too many of them to fight off at once, and they still had no weapons. They were headed one by one inside the building, and they were all more than likely tackling the stairs by now. "What the hell do we do now?"

Danielle shook her head slowly. "We are so fucked."