May 10th, 2008
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Alex opened her eyes to find herself staring at a dusty old bookshelf overflowing with books and ancient texts, and she let out a small groan. Another day, and still she was here, in this strange world of … whatever this was. The girl pulled herself to her feet, wincing at the deep-set pain in her limbs. She ran her hands down the front of the oversized t-shirt Dean had lent her, smoothing out the wrinkles, before she slowly made her way downstairs.
The Winchesters were in the study, exactly where she had left them the night before, and she paused in the doorway when they looked up. "Uh, morning." She offered up half a smile as her gaze flickered over Sam and Dean. "Where's Bobby at?"
"Supply run." Dean motioned to the empty whiskey bottles on the desk, letting Alex fill in the blanks. "How's the head?"
"Tolerable." The girl sunk down into one of the wooden chairs and put her head into her hands. "Do you … do you have a computer around here that I could use?" She rolled her head to look up at Dean. "Those exist in this universe, right?"
"Ha ha. Funny." Dean jerked a thumb over his shoulder into the kitchen. "Sam's is on the table." He pushed himself off of the wall and walked over to sit down at the desk, and Alex rose to her feet and moved off into the kitchen. Just as Dean had said, a laptop sat on the crowded wooden table. She flipped open the screen and plopped down in the chair before she cast a look around the room. There seemed to be no sign of breakfast even though it was barely 8:30am. "Password's 'crymax.' "
"Dude!" Sam protested. "It's not. It's 'moore02,' okay? The hell's your problem?"
Dean snickered loudly, and Alex rolled her eyes as she typed in the password. The first thing she did was pull up the internet, and, with a cautious glance back at the two brothers, typed in the first two things that came to mind. Paul Walker death. Boston Marathon bombing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Alex stared at the tabs, and she snapped her mouth shut when she realized that it had fallen open. President Barack Obama. He wasn't even president yet — everyone thought he would lose to … McCain? The young girl tipped her head. She knew nothing about politics. Ah. She had made an instagram account two months ago. The young girl went up to the top search bar and typed in the instagram url.
Sorry, this page does not exist.
"What?"
"What what?" Sam leaned up against the doorframe, and his hazel eyes were sparkling slightly in concern. "What are you looking for?"
"Instagram." Alex looked up at the Winchester, and she tipped her head. "The webpage doesn't exist. What did you do to it?" She tapped the computer screen with a frown. "Did the internet go out?'
"Instagram?" Sam narrowed his eyes. "Never heard of it. What is it?"
"Uh, social media site based around photos. It's really big — everyone's getting one. And I'm looking to prove that I'm not in 2008." Alex flipped through her tabs, and she felt her confidence falter slightly as she looked back at her discoveries. "Although Obama doesn't seem to be president yet." Her shoulders fell, and she turned her eyes up onto Sam. "So I don't know how you're doing it — some … some fancy algorithm or something — but it's impressive, alright?" Alex closed the laptop with a shake of her head. "Damn impressive."
...
A day passed, then two, and three, and Alex finally began to give up on her search. There was nothing in the internet, or in the newspapers in town. Sioux Falls; a town with a population of fifteen hundred thousand, and not a single person she had asked could answer any of her questions.
The two brothers, on the other hand, had only begun to drill her harder. The same questions had come day after day, and the young girl's patience and warily crafted answers had begun to wear away. She had tried to be careful, to keep her responses vague and cryptic, but things were beginning to slip.
The only solace from the barrage of interrogations was Bobby Singer. His questions had never extended past what she had experienced those few minutes leading up to her fall, and he even allowed her to help with their work in what little ways she could — which wasn't much, but, despite Bobby's sharp words and grumbles, she was beginning to learn.
Friday marked her sixth day in the year 2008. Alex had snuck downstairs to find the three hunters passed out from exhaustion. They had spent the entire night planning and pacing; Alex had heard them from where she had slept up in Bobby Singer's bed. Empty whiskey bottles lined the desk where the grouchy old man sat, his head buried in his arms, and even the creaking of the wooden floors hadn't caused him to stir. Alex had grabbed one of the Winchester's old sweatshirts off of the banister to ward off the early morning chill, and then she had set off into town in search of breakfast.
She didn't return to the Salvage Yard until the sun was high in the sky. She could hear movement off towards the back of the house as she reached the end of the long, dirt driveway, and her head tipped with curiosity; someone was awake. She circled around the large stacks of tires to find the hood of the Impala propped up. A figure was bent over the engine, back twisted as he swung a hammer up into the metal. "Whatcha doing?" Alex asked, and the figure paused mid-swing.
"Not much." Dean Winchester straightened up and tossed the hammer onto the dirt. "Just finishing getting out those dents you caused." He carefully put the hood back down and wiped his large hands off on his worn jeans. "Where were you? We couldn't find you this morning." He leaned up against hood and crossed his arms as he faced the young girl.
Alex frowned. "I wasn't aware I was under house arrest," she quipped back, and she crossed her own arms as she braced herself from another round of hard questions. "I went out for breakfast."
"Huh." Dean kicked the hammer over towards the rusty toolbox. "So, uh, adjusting well?"
"I'll be fine." The girl mimicked Dean by crossing her arms. "Still not fully convinced this is real and not a dream, but, uh, I'm just taking each day as it comes." She watched how Dean's gaze flickered onto the ground, and as the silence between them grew, she cleared her throat. "You … are you okay?"
"I'm fine." The Winchester's voice grew guarded, and Alex pursed her lips at the sudden sharpness that lined his words.
"Scared?" she guessed, and she kicked at a small bolt that lay in the dirt when Dean's green eyes turned onto her face.
She expected him to snap, but when he spoke, his voice was low and light with forced humor. "Why would you think that?" he asked, and his fingers drummed on his biceps with … nervousness?
She let out a quiet laugh, which ended with a noise that sounded more like a scoff. "You've got two days until your time is up," she reminded, and confidence sparked within her stomach when Dean's green eyes flickered briefly at the reminder. "Even you have got to be terrified. I can see it on your face, man," she snapped when Dean's lips pursed. "I know you're trying to be all tough for Sam, but you can't hide it from me."
"Stop, okay?" Fire flashed in his harlequin green eyes, and his arms unfolded as he straightened up. "Stop telling me how I feel. It's kinda freaky." He bent down to snatch up the hammer and toolkit, and he stormed off around towards the Impala's trunk.
"Can I come?" Alex's voice had the Winchester pausing, and he turned back with confusion wrinkling his smooth, freckled face.
"Come?" he repeated. "Come where?"
"Come with you," Alex explained. "When the three of you go after Lilith." She shoved her hands into her jean pockets, and her teeth chewed nervously on her bottom lip when Dean only stared.
"Seriously? No. No way." Dean firmly shook his head, and he tossed the hammer into the trunk. "Why would you even think we'd let you come with?"
"What?" Alex rolled her shoulders back as her grey eyes flashed indignantly. "Uh, I don't know, maybe because of the whole 'I-come-from-the-future-where-this-is-a-show'? I can help."
Dean slammed the trunk shut. "What, like you helped before?" he retorted. "No. As soon as we're underway, you're going home. You said you lived where? Minnesota, or, uh, Chicago?" The hunter waved the exact location off as unimportant. "It's on our way, so that's where you're going."
"Home?" Alex let out a snort at the very idea. "In case you haven't noticed, Winchester, I haven't tried to leave. I'm not from here — why would I want to go to my this-universe relatives who don't even know who I am?"
Dean shrugged. "Then we'll just have to find a way to get you back to your universe, okay?" The Winchester circled back around to stand in front of her. "I mean, what about your family? I'm sure they're missing you."
"I don't have a family." Alex's words were blunt, and her arms came back up to cross defensively in front of her chest. "My mom died when I was seven, and my dad …" Her teeth dug into her lip, and the young girl took a deep breath before she slowed her story down. "After my mom died, he started drinking, gambling, the works. One day when I was thirteen, he just got up and left. I don't know where he went, and I haven't heard from him since. So I just got put into the system."
"I'm sorry."
Alex shrugged at the Winchester's sympathy. "It wasn't all bad. I got put with a good family a few months later. I was with them for almost three years until … until they died, too. We were t-boned by a drunk driver; I survived, they didn't." Tears stung her eyes, but Alex firmly pushed them away. "Once I was out of the hospital, I got a new family, but, uh … they … they didn't like me. They already had two little ones —" She cut off, confident the Winchester didn't want to hear the details. "Long story short, we didn't get along. The night I, well, fell, we had fought, and they had thrown me out of the house for the night." She let out a dry laugh that was accompanied by the roll of her eyes. "They probably just think I'm living somewhere else now. I'm seventeen; they don't care what I do."
Her words were followed by a short pause. "Sorry to hear that," Dean finally said, and he reached in through the open Impala window to pull out an opened beer bottle. "But you're still not coming with."
"Aw, come on! Bobby gets to go with."
"Yeah, well, Bobby can take care of himself," Dean shot back.
"I can take care of myself." Alex frowned at Dean's disbelieving scoff. "I can!" she insisted. "Besides, there's no way you'd just leave me here on my own — not after how closely you guys have been watching me for the past week."
Dean shook his head. "You're be safer here than with us," was all he said, and Alex frowned.
"You don't know that," she retorted. "It's not like I'm going into this blind, man. I'm serious. I just watched this episode, like, four days ago. I'm pretty confident about where this is going."
She watched how Dean's jaw tightened at her words. "Oh. Would you like to share with the rest of the class?"
"I can't." Alex had answered this question so many times, she knew the answer inside and out. "I've already told you, Dean. Changing anything could screw up the whole world, o-or, maybe knowing the outcome will result in not only you needlessly dying, but Sam and Bobby, too. Plus," she added with a downwards tilt of her lips, "if everything changes and this is the real world, then I've just lost every advantage I had in the first place."
"That's no excuse," Dean muttered, and he tipped back his head as he finished off the last of his beer. "Tell you what. I'll talk to Sam about you coming along, alright? If he and Bobby think you should come — which they won't," he quickly added, "— then you can come. Capisce?"
"Fine."
"Fine," Dean repeated, and he gave a curt nod of his head as the matter was settled. "In the meantime, why don't we get some target practice in, huh?" He shook the empty bottle, and Alex nodded in understanding. "I'll get the guns out of the trunk, and you go get the rest of the bottles in the house. See you in five?"
"In five." Alex watched as Dean moved away, and with a shake of her blonde head, she hurried off in the other direction.
...
"I don't know how I got talked into this." Dean tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he glared back at Alex in the backseat. The young girl could only shrug; both Sam and Bobby had agreed that she should be allowed to come, and, against Dean's better judgement, he had relented.
"She can help." Sam's voice was flat, an indication that he and Dean had had this conversation many times before. "She's the only one here who actually knows what's going on."
The glare of headlights caught in the rearview mirror, and Alex twisted so she could see the large, rusted car that drove behind them. That was Bobby Singer — right now, Alex wasn't sure why she hadn't agreed to ride with him.
"What if she's wrong?" Dean's voice had Alex turning back to face the brother's, and she frowned deeply at his implications.
"I'm not wrong," she retorted, suppressing the small yet sudden wave of doubt. "And I haven't been wrong so far, remember?" She pulled her feet up off of the floor and tucked them under her legs as the Impala rounded a bend.
"Yeah whatever." Dean fell silent with a grumble, and Alex shifted uncomfortably on the leather seats. "You got the knife?" he asked a few seconds later.
"Of course I have the knife," Sam snapped.
"Give it here." Dean held out a hand, and Sam reluctantly complied after a second or two, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a large, serrated knife. Alex could make out intricate carvings in the blade in the moonlight before Dean tucked it inside his jacket. "Sam, listen." The oldest Winchester turned his gaze onto his brother. "I don't want you trying to bring me back, okay?"
Sam's brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"You know what I'm talking about." Dean turned his head back to the road. "If this doesn't work out, I don't want you trying to save me. Don't even think about it."
"But —"
Dean immediately cut him off. "No buts, you hear me? I'm serious, Sammy. My dying wish, if you will." He looked up into the rearview mirror as he added, "Same goes for you, Alex."
"Wouldn't dream of it," the young girl promised with a small shrug.
Sam opened his mouth to protest, but Dean reached over and cranked up the music to drown out any protests. Metallica filled the car, and Alex settled further down into the Impala seats. Trees sped by outside, partially hidden by the darkened sky. "Sam?" she asked aloud. The Winchester didn't answer, and she leaned forward to tap him on the shoulder. "Sam?" she repeated. "Where are we?"
Sam startled slightly, but he turned his eyes onto her. "Uh, we just crossed into Illinois," he explained over the loud music.
"Oh. Okay." Alex returned to her seat. Iowa. They should be in Indiana within a few hours. Just enough time for her to rest her eyes. She curled up in the seat and tucked her arms under her head, letting the hum of the music and the rocking of the car lure her towards sleep.
However, she had barely started to slip into her dreams before she was brought back into reality by the sound of sirens. Dean swore under his breath as he turned the music down, and the Impala rolled to a stop on the side of the road. Alex lifted her head and peered over the back to see the red and blue spinning lights on top of the police car. A tall officer approached the old Chevy, and Sam fished around in the glovebox for a license for Dean.
The man rapped on the window, and Dean rolled it down to hand him the appropriate papers. "You do realize you have a busted headlight, Mr. —" the officer looked down at the license, "— Hagar."
"Yessir, I've been meaning to … to take care of that." Dean looked up at the officer, and he paused. "Actually —" Suddenly the Winchester threw open the door, and the impact knocked the policeman down onto the pavement.
"Dean!" Sam threw open the car door with a cry of surprise as Dean leapt out and yanked the officer to his feet. A punch across the jaw had the man crying out, and Dean whipped out the knife from his jacket and shoved the blade through his throat.
The officer's face lit up with an unholy orange light as he died, and the body crumpled to the ground with a sickening thud. Brakes squealed as Bobby Singer pulled up behind them, and his door swung open and closed. "What the hell just happened?" he snapped as he hurried over to stand in front of Dean.
"Dean just killed a demon." Sam was staring down at the body, voice soft and eyes wide in shock.
The old hunter looked over at Dean, his eyebrows knit together in confusion, and when he spoke, his own voice was high with surprise. "How'd you know?"
Dean Winchester looked back at his brother. "I just knew," he explained slowly. "I could see his face — his real face, under that one."
Silence followed his words, and Alex finally crawled out of the car, not fully grasping the reality that Dean had just killed a man in front of her. "Dean … he can see the demon's true form," she began as she circled around to stand at Bobby's side. Her eyes traced the officer's dark form, finally stopping on the bloodied, gaping wound in his neck. Her stomach twisted, but she couldn't pull her gaze away. "He's only got a — a few hours left, and he's 'piercing the veil,' if you will." She fell into silence, unable to look away from the gruesome sight before her, but when no one else spoke, she finally added, "He's starting to see the other side."
"Great." Dean muttered out the word, and he slid the knife back into his jacket.
"Yes, actually." The Winchester's voice drew Alex's attention away from the demon, and her voice grew sharp as she once again was able to focus on their predicament. "Things will be a lot easier now that we can tell who's demon and who's not." She turned her eyes up towards the waxing moon. "Come on. We're wasting time."
"Wait in the car." A hand came to rest on her shoulder, and Alex looked up into Bobby's face. "Sam," the hunter added, turning to the two brothers and pointing off to their left, "help me push that car down off the road. We'll hide it in those trees over there. Dean, bring the demon."
The two Winchesters immediately obeyed, and Alex reluctantly returned to the Impala's side, crossing her arms as she watched the hunters work. Sam and Bobby pushed the police car down into the ditch and hastily began covering it with branches while Dean situated the body in the front seat. The breeze carried the murmur of voices, but they were too far away for Alex to make out distinct words. She tapped her foot on the pavement as she waited impatiently for the three to finish their task.
She finally slid into the backseat once she saw the hunters return to the road, and a few seconds later, the doors opened as Sam and Dean climbed in. "Everything okay?" she asked casually, her voice light in an attempt to hide her curiosity.
"Everything's fine." Dean slammed the door behind him and started the car, and the engine purred to life as they sped away.
...
New Harmony, Indiana
They arrived in New Harmony within the hour. Dean pulled the Impala to a stop at the end of a residential street, and Alex peered through the window as she took in the row of white suburban houses. "Are you sure this is the right place?" she inquired, skeptical of how the hunters had so accurately determined Lilith's location.
"Bobby was able to pinpoint it to this neighborhood," Sam explained quietly as Dean leaned over the seat to grab his bag. "Dean should be able to tell us more."
"This place feels wrong," the Winchester muttered under his breath. "She's here." He threw open the Impala door. "I saw a 'For Sale' sign as we drove by," he explained."We'll head there and set up base camp."
Alex frowned, but she followed Sam and Dean's lead. She waited as the two brothers slung their duffle bags over their shoulders, and as she stepped out in the cold night air, the young girl barely suppressed a shiver. Standing in the open, she suddenly felt exposed, and her mind began to reel as she imagined a thousand different ways as to how the next hour could unfold.
"You okay?" Bobby's voice had her jumping in surprise, and Alex spun around with wide eyes.
"Y-Yeah," she squeaked out, and she looked down at the goosebumps that covered her skin. "Just a little cold. Dean said we were heading for a house?"
The hunter nodded. "Stay close to me," he instructed, and he held out his hand. "Here." A necklace dangled from his fingers, a thin silver chain with a silver pendant attached. "Anti-possession charm," he explained when Alex's head tipped. "Trust me; you're gonna want this."
"Thank you." Alex slipped the charm over her head and tucked it beneath her shirt, fingers tracing the silver chain as it came to rest beside her own treasured necklace. She could feel the cool metal resting against her skin, and the charm brought a faint sense of comfort to her soul.
The hunters set out, and Alex followed them across the grass. They passed through the darkened backyards, Dean in the lead, with Sam taking up the rear. Alex stayed close to Bobby's side, eyes darting across their surroundings. She half-expected demons to swarm them from every side, and her shoulders began to ache as her muscles tensed even more, but they reached the empty home without detection.
Alex didn't realize she had been holding her breath until she stepped into the hallway, until her lungs burned for air. She drew in a deep, noisy breath, and immediately snapped her mouth shut when Sam cast her a look out of the corner of his eye. She expected to be reprimanded, but all he murmured was, "Stay here. We're going to check the house and make sure there's no demons here."
The girl nodded; she hadn't considered that possibility. She pressed her back into the wall and let the two brothers slip past. Bobby thankfully stayed with her, and Alex reached up to run her hand through her blonde hair as the Winchester's footsteps faded. "Still wishing you had come?" Bobby asked, a casual tone in his voice even as he kept it low.
Alex stiffened at the implication that their situation was too much for her to handle; stubbornness pushed through her, followed immediately by a shot of courage, and she firmly shook her head. "I'm fine," she promised sharply. "Don't worry about me."
Footfalls announced the return of Sam, and he waved them over. "The place is clean," he explained, "and there's a good view of the street from upstairs. Dean's there now." He led the way through the empty living room and up the wooden staircase to the master bedroom.
Dean Winchester stood by the window, his binoculars raised to his face as he studied the street below. "I think I found her." His voice was low with anger and determination, and he lowered the binoculars to look over at his friends. "She's in the house just to our left." He held out the binoculars to Sam, and his brother hurried forward to see for himself. "It's the littler girl," Dean explained as Bobby and Alex moved closer, and the young girl peered out the corner of the window towards the house Dean was referring to. "Her face is awful."
The downstairs lights were on, and although Alex couldn't make out faces, she could see shapes moving through the room. She felt Sam step away from the window behind her. "Alright then, let's go," he decided. "We're wasting time."
He took a hurried step away, but Dean reached out to stop him. "Wait!" he insisted, and Alex turned in confusion; the hunter seemed to know something they didn't.
"For what?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
"Demons." Dean spit out the word. "Look. See the real go-getter mailman on the clock at nine PM?" he pointed out the window, and Sam turned back with the binoculars. "And Mr. Rogers over there."
Alex squinted as she tried to see through the darkness; the postman she could see clearly, sitting in his mail truck in front of the house across the street. The other demons were harder to spot, but Alex could see figures in other houses, sitting or standing silently in their homes. Demons.
"Okay, fine." Sam handed the binoculars over to his brother. "We — we — we — we …" The hunter stalled, digging for a plan in the back of his mind. "We ninja past those guys, sneak in."
Dean snorted. "Then, what? Give a Columbian necktie to a ten year old girl, come on!" He glanced down at Alex, and she reluctantly turned away from the window. "Alright, genius," he prompted. "You know what's the deal, so spit it out. What do we do?"
"You need to get into that house," the young girl decided. "And yeah. You kill Lilith at all costs. I know it sucks, Dean," she quickly added when the hunter's green eyes hardened, "but that little girl is Lilith. You let her go, you die."
"And so do a hell of a lot of other people," Sam finished. "This isn't just about saving you, Dean. This is about saving everyone." He turned to look at Bobby. "Think you can take care of those demons out front?"
Bobby grunted in affirmation. "I got a few ideas," he promised. "And let me guess. Pipsqueak here is with me?"
Sam nodded. "Dean and I will go in alone."
Alex looked up to see that Bobby was frowning, but he didn't argue. "Alright then," he relented, "but you boys be careful. You've only got twenty minutes."
Panic flashed through Dean's eyes at those words, and even Alex felt a jolt of shock rush through her body, and she blinked back her surprise. Twenty minutes wasn't long. "You guys should probably go," she agreed, and she stepped back as the two brothers made their way towards the doorway. "Wait!" she called, drawing their attention back onto her long enough for her to add, "Dean, I'll, uh … I'll see you around, huh?"
The Winchester's voice was light despite the darkness in his eyes. "I hope so." Something passed across his face — hope, perhaps — and then he was gone, and Alex couldn't help but feel nauseous at the sudden wave of guilt that swept over her. She swallowed thickly, trying to suppress the flood of foreign emotions that swirled within her gut.
She knew how this would turn out.
But what good would the truth do him now? The truth would have only made his last few days hopeless and grim. No. She had most certainly done the right thing.
"Come on." Bobby was already halfway to the door, and Alex blinked in surprise as she came back to reality. "Stay close, alright?"
"Yeah, sure thing." Alex reached up to feel the anti-possession charm that hung on her chest before she followed the old hunter down the stairs and out of the house. "Where are we going?" she whispered as they stepped out onto the damp grass.
"We're looking for a shut off valve." Bobby paused in the yard, and his blue eyes narrowed as he thought. "Think you can run back and get me a few things? One of us needs to stay here and find the damn thing," he added when worry flashed through Alex, "and you can move a hell of a lot faster than me."
"Yeah, sure." The young girl's mouth went dry, and she licked her lips as she cast a glance down towards where their cars lay. "A-And if I run into trouble?"
"Run." Bobby handed her the keys to his rusted car. "Toolkit is in the trunk. Rosary is in the box next to it. Go on." He turned back to the house, and as soon a Alex's fingers closed around the keys, she broke into a sprint.
She dashed through the backyards, thankful for the black sweatshirt Dean had given her to help hide her in the night air. She slid to a stop in front of Bobby's rusted Chevelle, casting a quick look around at her surroundings to make sure she was alone. The reality of her dangerous situation was finally coming down upon her, and she fumbled the keys as she tried to unlock the trunk. "Dammit," she cursed under her breath, and she dug around through the dirty trunk for the toolbox Bobby had mentioned.
Once she had the requested items in hand, she made her way back across the yards, more slowly this time, keeping low and close to the houses. There had been no signs of demons, and the panic of being on her own was disappearing with each step closer to Bobby Singer.
"Here." She set the toolbox down in front of the old hunter who was kneeling by the side of the house. "What's the plan?"
"These are new houses," Bobby began as he dug a wrench out of the metal box. "They all have underground sprinkler systems." He yanked the metal cover off of the underground box that housed the shut off valve and unscrewed the cap, and Alex handed him the rosary.
"Holy water." Alex filled in the blanks, and Bobby nodded. "Got it." She snuck along the side of the house, keeping low as she peered around the corner towards the house where Lilith was hiding. "But how are we going to trigger the sprinklers from here?"
Bobby didn't immediately answer, too busy with his task at hand. "Exorcizo te," he murmured, "creatura aquae. In nomine dei patris omnipotintes." The latin phrase was lost on the young girl, and she turned back to see the old hunter drop the rosary down the pipes. Bobby turned, and their eyes met. "That's the one problem," he said, finally addressing Alex's question. "The switch is at the back of the house." He rose to his feet and dusted off his knees as he added, "Sam and Dean already cleared a path to the left, so that's where we go."
"…okay."
Bobby paused, sensing the hesitation in her voice. "Never mind," he decided. "You go upstairs and wait. Keep an eye out to make sure the Winchesters get in that house, okay? I'll be right back."
"Okay." The young girl frowned, not fond of splitting up, but the appeal of staying far away from real-life demons won out. "Be careful."
"There's salt in the car," the hunter instructed as he slid the metal cover back over the water main. "Get that —"
"— salt the doors and the windows," Alex finished. "Yeah, I know that much. Will do." She watched as Bobby snuck away, and her shoulders fell as she added a quiet, "hurry back," after him.
The trip back to the cars was less harrowing than before, and Alex wasted no time in hauling the half-empty bag of salt back to the empty house. The door was still unlocked, and the floorboards creaked under each step as the young girl hurried up the stairs to the room that overlooked the street.
She poured a thick, continuous line of salt across the windowsill and in front of the door, careful to lay it in a semi-circle large enough for the door to open when Bobby returned. Then she turned her eyes out the window.
The house was still, and all the lights were out. For almost a full sixty seconds, the entire neighborhood was dead; no sign of Bobby, of the Winchesters, or of any paranormal activity. Only the wind in the trees and the sounds of the night. And then people appeared.
They moved in from the edges of Alex's vision, slowly at first, but gaining speed as three figures dashed across the lawn to stand on the front porch of Lilith's house. Alex scooped up the binoculars so she could make out their faces. Sam, Dean, and a blonde woman. Alex knew that face well.
"Ruby." She let the binoculars fall away from her eyes as she frowned. That was right. The demon showed up with them, too. Sam was already kneeling in front of the front door, trying to pick the lock, but the house was surrounded by almost twenty demons moving across the street and up onto the lawn.
The sprinklers came to life, and the air was filled with screams. The demons caught in the spray flailed in agony, and steam rose into the cold night air. Alex watched as they stumbled back to stand on the pavement, and the ear-piercing screeches began to fade. The Winchesters disappeared into the house, and Alex tossed the binoculars onto the duffle bag.
The door opened, and Alex spun around to see Bobby Singer step inside. "What'd I miss?"
"Well, your holy sprinkler idea worked perfectly." Alex glanced down at the demons that surrounded the house. "Sam and Dean got inside, but I think Ruby was with them. She's a demon," she quickly added.
Bobby's face darkened. "I know who she is. Why's she there?"
"To help, I think." Alex could only offer up a small shrug. "Whether or not you want to believe her is your choice. How'd you get back here so fast?"
"Just ran for it. The demons were too focused on the house to even notice." Bobby crossed the room to peer out the window at the scene below. "So I guess now we just wait."
"Okay." Alex sank down on the floor and leaned up against the wall, head tipped back as she began to count the ceiling tiles. "How long have they got?"
"Five minutes, give or take." Alex saw Bobby turn towards her out of the corner of her eye, and the room was silent for a second or two before the hunter finally spoke again. "Not to be mean or nothing, but given the circumstances, I figured I should ask. What's up with you? I mean, falling from the sky, claiming are lives are part of a damn show. I've heard of a lot of things in my time, but that's sure as hell ain't one of 'em."
"Yeah, well, tell me about it." The young girl looked up into the hunter's eyes. "It's not like I asked for this, man. I was just walking down the street, minding my own business, and wham." She smacked her hand against her thigh for emphasis. "Next thing I know I'm landing on top of Dean's car. Also, your lives aren't just part of the show, your lives are the show."
"Damn that's weird."
"Not as weird as suddenly being tossed into a show that's starting to look like it's actually real life," Alex countered. "I barely even know what's real anymore. Actually," she admitted in a quiet voice, "it's a bit terrifying at times."
"Well, it isn't much better on this side. After all, it ain't every day you run into a stranger who seems to know everything about you and your future."
"No, I suppose not," the young girl mused, and she reached up to tighten her ponytail as she glanced out at the moon. It was beginning to wane, stretching down beyond her line of sight.
Bobby shifted impatiently beside her. "So, I gotta ask," he finally said. "Are you not speaking up cause you don't think it'd change the outcome, or because you're too afraid of what changing it might do?"
Alex looked up sharply at the question, but the old hunter didn't flinch. "I … a little bit of both, I suppose." Alex slowly rose to her feet and turned her eyes out the dark window. "Part of me's too afraid to change what happens because if I do … if I do, I've lost the one edge I have in this world. But at the same time, I don't know what I could have done. Either way, someone dies … and let's just say Lilith is really hard to kill."
She could see the emotion that flickered in Bobby's eyes, but his voice was quiet. "And that thing you were talking about that could kill a demon with a touch?"
Alex shook her head. "Doesn't matter," she muttered. "You couldn't get that thing to help us without it killing us too. It'll come to us eventually, but right now you wouldn't even believe it existed."
The room suddenly grew dark, like a cloud had blotted out the sky, and Alex watched how the demons fled their hosts in a mass of thick, black smoke. "Maybe it worked." Bobby words were hopeful, but his voice was flat.
Alex's shoulders fell. "Bobby —" she began, but the hunter cut her off.
"Let's wait to see what happened before you go apologizing." Bobby turned and hurried out the door, and Alex ran after him, sprinting down the stairs and out into the street. Bodies lined the street, whether dead or alive Alex couldn't tell, but neither her nor Bobby stopped to check.
Bobby threw open the front door, and Alex almost knocked him over when the hunter suddenly pulled to a stop. She knew what lay in front of them, but she still couldn't help the gasp of horror that escaped her lips as shock and fear shot up her spine like a flash of fire.
Sam Winchester was on the ground, holding his brother in his trembling arms. Dean's green eyes were open, blank and dull as they stared into nothingness. Blood droplets dotted his face like macabre freckles. His arms and legs were red with blood that still seeped out of deep, ragged scratches, soaking into the hardwood floor. His chest was in ribbons, bits of torn, bloodied fabric mixed in with the unrecognizable flesh.
Alex immediately turned away, but the image was seared into her mind, each detail committed to a memory she would never be able to shake. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she squeezed her eyes shut to hold them back. She wasn't going to cry, dammit. Not after she had been preparing herself for this moment for days.
Lying to the Winchesters had been so easy, but as she stood before Dean's body, she wished with all her heart she had known how to stop it.
...
The next few hours passed like a dream. Sam had carefully wrapped his brother's body in linen sheets and carried him out of the house, and Alex had watched as he laid Dean in the backseat of the Impala. She hadn't missed the grief-stricken look he had given her, and she now rode silently in the front seat of Bobby's Charger, watching the headlights of the Impala far ahead.
Two hundred miles later, at the crack of dawn, Sam had pulled over and buried Dean. He had dug the grave by himself, deep within a pine forest, only accepting Bobby's help when his own strength had faltered. Alex watched from a distance, too afraid and guilt-ridden to offer her own help.
She only approached when Bobby motioned her forward to pay her last respects. She crept forward, carefully skirting past Sam, but the Winchester didn't even seem to notice her. His hazel eyes were dull and distant, staring blankly at the ground.
She paused beside the grave, carefully not to tread on the soft, overturned dirt as she reached out to touch the makeshift wooden cross. "I'll see you soon," she promised softly, too quiet for either hunter to hear, and she squeezed her eyes shut as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm sorry, Dean."
A warm hand on her shoulder had her stepping away, and she turned to look up into Bobby's eyes. "Come on," he said quietly as his gaze turned onto Sam. "Let him mourn in peace." He lead the way back towards the car, and Alex trailed behind. She cast a glance over her shoulder as they walked away, and through the trees she saw Sam fall to his knees beside his brother's grave, head in his hands as he finally broke.
...
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
She awoke to darkness. Alex rolled over, eyes stretching open wide as they adjusted to the sparse moonlight in the room. She was upstairs in Bobby's bed, but she hadn't remembered falling asleep.
They had reached the house around mid afternoon, with Sam arriving half an hour later, and Alex had slunk upstairs when the door slammed shut. She remembered how Sam had yelled, but she hadn't listened for words. She had numbly curled up in the sheets, staring blankly at the wall as she had thought. She must have drifted off.
She threw off the covers and rose to her feet, licking her dry lips and running a hand across her pale face. She could feel the dried tears across her cheeks, and she hurriedly brushed them away. Dean might be dead, but she knew it wouldn't last.
Hunger drove her downwards, and Alex paused at the bottom of the staircase as she looked around. There didn't seem to be anybody home, but the desk light in the study was on. Alex crossed the hall to peer into the cluttered room, but it was empty. Where had everyone gone? She stepped back, intending to check for a note in the kitchen, but suddenly she was shoved backwards.
Rough hands pinned her against the wall, and Alex looked up in terror to see Sam Winchester standing over her, his eyes brimming with pain. "What the hell?" he yelled, and Alex shrunk further back into the wall. "You promised that Dean would live!"
"I didn't —"
"You knew he would die!" Sam slammed her back into the wall, and Alex gasped as the air was forced out of her lungs. "Damn you, Alex! You knew he was going to fucking die, and you wouldn't even tell us how to save him!" Sam raised a balled fist, ready to strike, and Alex flinched away, eyes squeezed shut as she braced herself for pain.
It never came. Instead, Sam suddenly disappeared, and Alex felt an arm stretch out across her protectively. "Dammit, Sam, leave her alone," she heard Bobby snap, and she opened her eyes. "It ain't her fault."
"Get out of my way, Bobby." Sam rolled back his shoulders, chin raised, and his eyes burned with fire.
Bobby remained firm. "No."
"She could have saved Dean!" the Winchester bellowed.
"Yeah, and it would have cost you your own life!" Alex yelled back, her temper flaring defensively. "Lilith isn't dead, in case you haven't noticed! There was nothing I could have done —" Her jaw dropped as she saw something glint in Sam's hand, and she swallowed nervously as she recognized the large bowie knife.
Bobby shifted back, nudging her away from the wall and towards the back door. "You better leave," he warned. "Get outside. I'll take care of Sam."
Alex didn't dare protest. She bolted down the hall and out the door, letting it slam behind her as she stumbled across the yard towards the salvaged cars. Despite the warm May air, her hair stood on end. Sam had just tied to kill her.
She slowed to a walk as the house disappeared behind the stacks of cars, and her eyes turned up towards the night sky bright with stars. "Cas?" The name came out softly, a whispered prayer, and the young girl swallowed back tears. "Castiel!" She yelled the name this time, listening as her voice echoed through the night. "I know you're up there!"
Silence.
"Dammit, Cas!" Her eyes flashed as she stared at the sky. "Answer me! Please! This is about Dean Winchester! Is anyone listening? Uriel? Zachariah? Can any of you hear me?" Her voice cracked with desperation, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to pray harder. "Michael! This is your vessel we're talking about!"
Once again, silence met her words.
A tear slid down her cheek, and Alex angrily brushed it away. "Castiel, this is important! Apocalypse important. I'm serious. Please, just listen to me! It starts with Dean. In hell. He breaks the first seal! When a righteous man sheds blood in hell? Sound familiar?" She opened her eyes and looked around, but when no one appeared, she threw back her head in defeat. "Why won't you listen to me?" Anger boiled up beneath her skin, and she brought her fist down on the hood of a rusted car. The action brought pain, and Alex wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as they teared up once again.
"Fine!" she yelled into the night. "You know what? Screw you! Screw you all to hell. You only have a few months before Dean gives in, you hear me? So don't you dare say I didn't warn you." The young girl sat down on the hood of a car, and she crawled up to lean against the windshield as she gazed up at the cold, unyielding stars. "Angels," she scoffed as she fell into her own thoughts. "I shouldn't have expected an answer from you anyways."
...
Light reflected off of the cars, waking Alex up. She let out a loud groan to find her body stiff, and she slowly rolled off of the hood of the old blue car, wincing as her back cracked loudly. She smoothed down her wrinkled shirt and drew her hair up into a ponytail, and, with one last glance at the red morning sky, she slowly made her way back towards the house.
The Impala was still parked by the door, and so Alex entered slowly, wary of where the younger Winchester might be lurking. She could see Bobby sitting in the kitchen, with another pair of legs across from him, and she reluctantly made her way towards them; better to face the Winchester now, lest she not have the courage to do so later on.
Bobby looked up at her arrival, and he was the first to speak. "Thought you'd left," he said gruffly.
Alex scoffed. "Of course not. I don't have anywhere else to go. I just fell asleep on one of the cars outside." She watched as Sam abruptly rose to his feet and stormed away, and her shoulders fell.
"Ignore him." Bobby motioned to the chair Sam had vacated, and Alex gratefully took a seat. "It's been tough for him."
"It's been tough for all of us," Alex corrected, and she cast a look over her shoulder as she lowered her voice. "Listen, Bobby, I hate to ask, but I have to know — why did you guys bury Dean? Most hunters are salted and burned."
Bobby shrugged. "That's what I told him, but Sam had his mind set on burying him. I wasn't gonna argue with him over Dean's body, so I …" He reached for his glass of whiskey, leaving the rest for Alex to fill in. "He says Dean's going to need a body when Dean comes back."
Alex widened her eyes, faking shock at the very idea of Dean's return. "Comes back?" she repeated as she rose to her feet, and she circled around to the fridge to pull out a Coke. "That sounds like trouble — although that could just be grief talking."
Bobby shook his head as she returned to the table. "Doubt it. Sam's not that type of guy. Speaking of grief," he added when Alex cracked open her can, "how are you doing? I know you didn't know Dean well, but you still seemed pretty shook up."
"Not know him?" Alex let out a quiet laugh. "Bobby, I feel like I know Dean pretty well; I've seen seven, eight seasons of that show. I know who Dean was, and I know who he'll become, so I say I know Dean. But no. I haven't known him personally for very long. But I'm fine." She reached out to take a sip of her drink, but the image of Dean's mauled corpse in her mind had her pausing.
Bobby saw, and his face softened. "It couldn't have been easy, seeing him like that."
Alex shrugged. "It could't have been easy for you either," she responded. "I mean, you've known Dean forever — he and Sam, they were like your sons. I …" She wrapped her hands around her Coke, fingers drumming on the thin metal can as she let out a soft breath. "I know what it's like to watch someone you love die."
The back door slammed shut, and Alex jumped, eyes going wide as she looked around. "You better be careful around Sam." Bobby's eyes darkened as he glanced towards the door. "He's still pretty pissed at you. Best stay out of his way."
Alex reached up to rub her sternum, still sore from where Sam had pinned her against the wall. "Yeah," she muttered, "that was definitely my plan."
...
A week passed at the Singer house. Everyone was quiet, speaking only when it was absolutely necessary. When Alex wasn't hiding upstairs, she was plastered to Bobby's side, too nervous to go too far off on her own. Not with Sam still lurking around the property.
She didn't know what the Winchester was up to; she would hear him come and go at all hours of the day and night, but no matter how curious she was, she didn't dare approach him without Bobby at her side. She still had a bruise on her shoulder from where it had hit the wall.
That Monday morning, Alex found herself sitting at the kitchen table, eyes moving between the laptop in front of her and Bobby Singer who sat in the next room. Breakfast was over, and Alex had resigned herself to typing up whatever information she could remember from the show. She knew it she wouldn't save the document; she didn't want to risk anybody reading it.
The floor creaked above her, and Alex paused to look up. Sam was upstairs, moving around and slamming doors while doing who knows what. The Winchester hadn't spoken a word to her in days. Another door slammed, and Alex heard Bobby grunt, displeased at the abuse his house was taking, and the young girl looked up when the stairs creaked under Sam's weight. She saw a flash of movement as the hunter took off down the hall, and back door slammed shut behind him.
And then the house was quiet.
The Impala roared to life, and Alex rose to her feet as she heard the car speed off into the distance. "Balls," Bobby cursed, and he ran over to the kitchen window to watch the Impala disappear. "Where does that idjit think he's off to?"
Alex joined him at the window, and she watched as the black car turned out of the dirt driveway and disappeared from sight. "I don't know," she finally admitted, and her shoulders fell as she let out a soft sigh. "But I don't think that he's ever coming back."