Warnings: Character death, language, violence, emotional pain
There was a thick layer of snow on the ground. It had been a strangely warm winter up until this point. The Hunters were hiding behind trees and rocks. The sound of planes overhead was almost overwhelming. Sam wanted to cover his ears a few times, but that would mean setting his gun down and facing the wrath of Dean.
"It's ours!" Cas called out, smiling up at plane that flew over.
"How can you tell?" Crowley asked.
"It's ours." Benny and Dean said at the same time.
"Old married couple." Ruby mumbled under her breath.
"Fry 'em." Benny growled. Just then, the plane that flew over dropped bombs on strongholds. Dean's smile grew as he watched it unfolding. Fire and explosions.
"Dear god." Jimmy said, watching all of the bombs going off.
"And we're going over there?" Bobby asked. Benny nodded.
"Welcome to war kiddos." He said. Dean looked over at Sam. He never wanted him to be in this position. He never wanted him to see the horrors of war. To see someone as your friend but they turn out to be your enemy, or your enemy is actually your friend. There were so many things in the world that Dean didn't want Sam to see, and most of them involved the world that they were living in. That's when there was a noise to the left of the group.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean called out. "Move!" A large tank headed their way. Everyone took off running from their hiding spots. Weapons in hand, Dean and Benny led all of them to a snowbank. "Get down!" He ordered. They all dove behind the snow, watching the tank come closer before it stopped right in front of them. But it wasn't there for them. It was there to fire at the Freedom Fighters that were down below. Another tank showed up then, parking just down from the other one.
"What are we going to do?" Rufus whispered to Bobby over the tank fire.
"You think I know?" Bobby asked. Caleb looked down at his gun as the tanks kept firing. He reached over towards Benny and snagged two explosives from his bag.
"Hey!" Benny said. Caleb climbed up the snowhill.
"Get out of here." Caleb said, ignoring the boys and girls trying to grab at his ankles to stop him.
"Give him cover!" Benny said. The kids raised their guns and started firing, trying to help Caleb out and to get him back down towards them. Dean fired the grenade launcher at the tank across from them, hitting the target. It knocked the gunman off his post. But as he fell, he let off a shot, hitting Caleb in the stomach.
"CALEB!" Meg screamed. She had grown close to him. Sam's eyes widened as he watched his friend slump against the tank he was standing on. Jimmy screamed out and shot at the gunman over and over, hitting him several times. He kept screaming even after he had run out and the gunman had fallen to the ground, red snow surrounding him. The tank that Dean had hit with the grenade was on fire. Anyone that was in there was gone.
"Caleb, get down here!" Bobby begged. Caleb shook his head, holding where the bullet wound was.
"I have to do this." He groaned. He grabbed the explosive he had taken from Benny. He pulled the pin and tossed it through the hatch for the tank. He rested against the hatch, a smile on his face. "Fuck. You." He said right before the explosive went off. He fell off the tank onto the ground. Meg ran to him.
"Caleb?" She said, shaking him gently. Lisa ran over and touched the side of his neck. She shook her head.
"I'm sorry." She said. Dean turned away, unable to look down at the young man on the ground.
"We have to get out of here." Benny said. "Back to our safe hold."
"We can't just leave him here." Meg cried, large tears falling down her face. Ruby put a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Come on Meg." Ruby said softly. Jo helped her to pulled Meg away from Caleb's body.
"Should we take him with us?" Sam whispered. Dean looked over at Sam as more bombs exploded to the side of them.
"We have to go Sammy." Dean told him. Sam nodded and turned away, heading back toward their hidden camp, tears in his eyes.
Meg was crying as they set around the fire, getting warm and trying to calm down after what they had just seen. Sam got up with his knife and headed out to their memorial rock, carving Caleb's name into it beside Rick's name. All these deaths were starting to catch up with him. His dad had been his only parent since he was six months old. Jessica had been the love of his life since she moved in 6th grade and almost broke Sam's nose during dodgeball. He had been friends with Caleb since first grade when one of the mean third graders tried to steal Sam's lunch. Dean wasn't there to protect Sam like he always did, but Caleb was and he knew how to tackle and hit.
Sam cried for a minute or two while he set up at the rock, but soon it disappeared to anger. He was mad at Caleb for running off into danger like that. He was mad at whatever force that was up above for not keeping him safe, keeping them all safe. He was mad at Benny for leading them out there in the first place. He was mad at Dean for agreeing with him and for leaving Caleb behind. Sam balled up his fist and hit the rock over and over until it was so painful that the cold air hitting it made all the nerves in his body scream out in agony. He slid down onto the snow, leaning up against the rock and cradling his injured hand against his chest.
"Sam?" Dean called out. Sam didn't realize how long he had been at the rock, but it had been longer than he had intended. Dean saw his brother sitting against the rock and came over. Then he saw the blood that had dripped on the snow from his hand. "Sammy! Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." Sam assured him. But the grimace when Dean knelt in front of him and gently took his hand gave it away.
"Yeah, real fine." Dean said, examining his hand the best he could. "Because that rock really needed to be beat up." Sam didn't say anything, just hissing as Dean probed his hand, asked him to move his fingers, and other things like that. "I don't think it's broken. We'll have Lisa clean it up and wrap it for you." Sam nodded. "Sammy, say something. You're starting to scare me man."
"I'm so tired of death." Sam said, looking around. They could hear bombs in the distance. "I just wanted to play soccer and go to school. I didn't want to be a soldier." Dean could see the tears in Sam's eyes. Out of the two of them, Sam had always been the more emotional one. Sam had only seen Dean cry a handful of times. Once was because he got nailed in the balls by some kids playing baseball, and once was because Sam had gotten so sick he had passed out and Dean was scared.
"I'm getting you out of here." Dean told Sam, pulling him into a hug. "One way or another, I'm getting you out of this place. You can still go to California. It'll be okay Sammy." Sam wanted to believe Dean, but after losing their dad, Jessica, and Caleb to this damn thing, he was finding it harder and harder to believe.
"Yeah…" Sam said, offering Dean a small smile to tell him he believed him.
"Come on. We need to get your hand cleaned up before it has a chance to get infected." Dean said, patting Sam's shoulder. Sam nodded and followed his brother back to camp. Meg and Ruby were nowhere to be seen, but Dean had expected as much. Lisa jumped up from where she was sitting with Benny when she saw the blood on Sam's hand.
"What happened?" She asked, eyes wide.
"Sammy here decided to pick a fight with a rock." Dean explained. Lisa got her med kit and set Sam down by the fire to start cleaning him up. Benny went over to talk to the others as Dean hovered over Lisa, watching her dab peroxide on Sam's hand. With ever hiss Sam had, she got a glare from the older brother.
"Dean, relax." Sam said. "It's my fault, not Lisa's."
"Still. I thought nurses were supposed to be gentle." Dean said. Lisa glared at Dean but bit her tongue. How did she ever even remotely think that she was in love with this? She focused on Sam instead. Sam was always nice to her, even when he had no reason to be. Sam was nice to everyone. Lisa carefully wrapped Sam's hand and smiled at him.
"There. All better." She said. "I'm out of lollipops though." Sam laughed.
"Thanks Lisa." He said, standing up and holding his hand against him. She cleaned it, but it still hurt. But Sam refused to take anything for the pain. It wasn't that bad and they needed that stuff that they had "borrowed" for real emergencies. He found himself a large tree and set by it, pulling his knees to his chest. Lisa watched him for a second before Dean headed his way. She turned back to Benny. Dean set down by Sam.
"I want to go home." Sam said softly, not even looking up at Dean. Dean wanted to tell him that they would go home soon, that John would be waiting there with a beer in his hand and Jessica would come over. And even Dean would have a girl on his arm. Caleb and the guys would crash their barbeque and everything would be perfect.
But Dean couldn't promise any of that. He couldn't even promise that they would survive the night. All Dean could do was wrap an arm around Sam and offer soft words.
"I know."