Warnings: Language, and it might get a little emotional up in here
It was quiet as Dean, Sam, and Lisa made their way towards Calumet. Burnt up tanks and Jeeps set along the fields leading to the town. Dean had left the Impala behind, knowing that it would be quicker but knowing it would be spotted. He was trying to find a vehicle out here that wasn't destroyed, covered in blood and guts, or stuck in the mud from the recent rain that had fallen. Sam's eyes widened as he stared at a burnt up tank with a body half hanging out of it, red visible on black, charred fabric.
"Sam, don't look." Lisa said gently, turning the younger boy away from the scene. "Your brother shouldn't have brought you."
"It's okay…" Sam whispered softly. "He's just trying to look out for me." Lisa shook her head. She knew that Sam wasn't a baby and was more than capable of watching out for himself, but he was just a kid. Hell, even Jessica was older than him but a few months. Jess would be eighteen in October, and Sam wouldn't be until May. All of his friends were either eighteen or would be very shortly. Lisa and Dean were both in their twenties. He was just a kid and a warzone was no place for a kid.
"Come on." Dean said, motioning for them. Lisa and Sam followed him to a dirt pile. Crouching down behind it, Dean pulled out a pair of binoculars to check out Calumet. Lisa and Sam peaked over the dirt hill, seeing cars driving down the street and people walking around.
"Dean, the stores are all open. There are people everywhere. Is it over?" Sam asked, looking at his brother with hope in his eyes. Hope that he could go home. Hope that they would see their dad again and he would get to see Jessica. Hope that things were going back to normal.
"There's troops. Are they ours?" Lisa asked, looking over at Dean.
"No." Dean said, lowering the binoculars. "They're not ours. Not at all." Lisa and Sam looked at each other. "Stash the guns. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves. We shouldn't need a truck to get to town, but we might need it to get stuff back to the mountain." Lisa and Sam nodded, hiding their weapons behind the pile. Dean looked at his pistol and sighed, leaving it behind. He didn't want to risk being frisked.
"Ready?" Sam asked. Dean nodded.
"Let's go."
There were a lot of soldiers walking around holding rifles as Sam, Dean, and Lisa slipped into town. They were walking with civilians, like they belonged there. Dean watched a car drive by, the mayor's car. The mayor and his wife were in the front seat while a soldier with two girls were in the back seat. Sam was looking to see if maybe it was Jessica in the backseat, but it wasn't. It was a girl from his calculus class named Anna and her older sister Naomi.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Dean whispered. "Come on. It looks like the Robinson's store is still open." Sam and Lisa followed along with Dean, trying their best to blend in. People averted their eyes away from them, and even went as far as to pretend they weren't there when Dean tried to talk to them. Lisa and Sam looked at each other, a little worried to what was going on.
The streets were littered with rubble. Tanks and checkpoints were set up in random places. The library, town hall, and other places had lots of soldiers hanging out around them. Propaganda posters with Kim Jong-un's face on them were plastered all over walls and lamp posts. Sam wanted to turn around and go back to the mountain, but Dean was here and Dean always made things better.
The bell rang above the door as the three made their way into the store. Lisa looked around, noticing sparse shelves and soldier loitering. Dean made his way to the counter to talk to the girl while Lisa and Sam made their way over to the magazine rack.
"Hey Cassie. How's your old man?" Dean asked when Cassie recognized him. She put her book down and offered Dean a small smile.
"Dean? Oh my god what are you doing here?" Cassie asked.
"We've been hiding out and we need supplies." Dean whispered, noticing a soldier looking over their way.
"You have to get out of here. They're looking for you guys." Cassie told him. Dean looked over at Sam and Lisa before turning his attention back to Cassie. "They have Sam's school records. They think he'd be an asset. Lisa is a nurse. They are in high demand. They want the kids Dean. And you don't want them to get them."
"We just want to find out what's going on." Dean said. Cassie glanced up at one of the soldiers before motioning for her brother. He came over.
"Hey Dean." He said.
"Ryan, we have a delivery that needs picked up around back." Cassie explained, making Ryan nod in acknowledgement. "You can pick up your order from Ryan."
"Cassie, have you seen my dad?" Dean asked as Ryan left to pack some secret supplies from an unmapped sub basement. "I saw he wasn't at the garage and I was going to go by the house but…" Cassie shook her head. "What?"
"We're not supposed to talk about this, no one is, but I figure they're going to come for me anyway." She sighed. "People that were making trouble, they got rounded up and taken away. Your dad probably isn't home. When he realized they had Sam's school records and were asking around where he was, he started to rebel. They thought he would know where you boys were. Him, and people who had things they wanted, they were just taken away."
"Where?" Dean asked. Sam was listening in now, his hands shaking some. Lisa put a comforting hand on his back.
"Uh…reeducation camps. That's what they call them." Cassie explained. Dean paled some, wondering what they could be doing to his dad there. "I heard it's at the old drive-in." Dean nodded and motioned for Lisa and Sam, heading for the door. "Dean…" Dean stopped to look at her. "My dad…he's dead. They killed him."
"I'm so sorry Cassie." Dean said. "We'll fix this." With that, Sam, Dean, and Lisa left the store and quickly made their way around to the back of the store where Ryan was waiting. There were a couple nice sized boxes full of goodies.
"Be careful you three." Ryan said. Sam and Dean picked up the boxes. "There's a hole in the fence over there that leads into a clump of trees. It'll be the best way to get the supplies out of here." He sighed. "But knowing you two hard headed bastards, you're going to try to go see your dad, aren't you?"
"Yeah." Dean said.
"Then I'd suggest you stash your things." Ryan said. "And be careful. Big brother is always watching." With that, he headed back into the store. Dean and Sam looked at each other before taking the things through the hole in the fence that Ryan had mentioned and hiding them in a hollowed out tree.
"They'll be safe here, right?" Lisa asked.
"Well, you could stay and watch them." Dean suggested. Lisa shook her head and followed Dean back through the fence. "We're going to the drive-in. We're going to find dad." Sam nodded and followed his brother's lead.
There were large spotlights surrounding the camp, setting on guard towers with razor wire fence strung up between them. An anti-American propaganda film was playing on the large screen. There was a gap between two sets of fence, keeping the outside civilians separate from the prisoners in the camp. Sam, Dean, and Lisa slipped behind a group of people talking to their loved ones. Sam went to the fence.
"Mr. Pellegrino." Sam said. The former teacher looked up at his student, a smile spreading on his face.
"Sam. Thank god. Are you okay?" Mark asked. Sam nodded.
"Yeah. A bunch of us escaped." Sam explained. "Have you seen my dad?"
"John? Uh, give me a second." Mark left the boys standing at the fence. Lisa was a little ways down from them, talking to a friend from work. Dean watched her for a second, watching the large tears falling down her face.
"Sammy? Dean?" John said, turning Dean's attention back to the fence. John stood there, leaning against Mark for support.
"Dad." Dean said softly. John grabbed onto the fence to hold himself up. His face was busted and bruised. He was a little skinnier than he had been before this had all happened, and it was obvious by the help he had to have from Sam's teacher that he was having a hard time walking around. He was still wrapped up in his green jacket with the patches on it, and his hat was still firmly on his head.
"Don't say anything. Just let me watch you." John said, checking his boys over. Dean and Sam stood there, watching their dad. This man had taken care of them for all their lives, and at one point, Sam actually thought he was Superman. But here he was, broken and beaten in front of them. "I knew I was right. You two got out. They came around asking for you, saying that Sam had potential and they were worried Dean would cause problems. I couldn't let them find you."
"Dad…" Sam whimpered, sounding more like a child than he really was.
"I was so tough on both of you." John said. "Making Dean take care of everything while I was off at work or at the bar. And I am so sorry that I failed you as a father." He looked at Sam when he said that before turning his attention back to both boys. "I did things that made you mad, made you hate me at times, but I just want you to know that even when we were fighting, I still loved you. I still love you boys. Even with one going off to the Middle East and the other going to California. I love both of you so much."
"We love you too dad." Dean said, watching tears in his dad's eyes. He had only seen that a handful of times. "What have they done to you dad?" John shook his head.
"Don't worry about that." John said. "Do you boys remember something that I used to tell you when we would go out deer hunting? Besides Sammy, quit giggling." Sam had to smile a little at that memory. Being up in the deer stand and Dean would do things to make Sam laugh.
"Hunters don't quit." Dean said, remembering how many times he wanted to give up on a hunt, despite being hungry and needing the deer to eat. John nodded.
"So I don't want you boys to give up. No matter what you hear. No matter what goes on. You boys do not give up. You do not give into these sons of bitches. Do you understand me?"
"Yes sir." Sam and Dean said together.
"Remember when we would go to the park. And you wanted to be on the swings? And Sam was just so little and Dean always showed Sam how to kick his legs. And it was just a mess of untied shoes and frantic kicking to keep up?" Sam nodded, tears falling down his face. "And I would pick you up when you fell off."
"I remember." Dean said.
"Well, I won't be around to pick you up when you fall down. You two have to be there for each other, okay? Promise me."
"I promise." Sam said.
"Me too." Dean added. John nodded, satisfied with his answer. He knew his time was drawing close. It was only a matter of time.
"You boys need to get going now. It's too dangerous for you to stay much longer." John said, memorizing his boys features one last time. "Watch out for each other." Dean nodded. He was always watching out for Sam. He would never stop watching out for Sam. Wrapping an arm around Sam's shoulder, Dean led his brother away from the fence. Lisa noticed and said goodbye to her friend before running to catch up with them. John watched his boys leave, a tear falling down his face.
"Do the world some good boys." He said to the air.