Author's Note: And here is the second chapter for the week. Enjoy! 3

They didn't get to rest for long; Dean wouldn't let them. Time wasn't on their side right now, between the dinosaurs on the loose and Castiel's condition worsening by the second. After a few minutes of catching their breath, Dean was shaking Castiel's shoulder gently to wake him up.

It took twice as long for him to wake up completely as the last time, even after only a few minutes. That only reminded Dean of the dire stakes of the situation, and he stood up reluctantly before offering Castiel his hands.

"We'll need to move quickly, but don't make too much noise," he said to both of them as he helped Castiel to his feet. Castiel swayed at first, and Dean paused and gave him a questioning look, worried that walking would already be out of the question. Castiel seemed to steady up a bit, though, and he finally focused in on Dean and nodded.

"Okay. Yeah, I'm ready," he said, and though Dean knew that was likely a fib, he let it go for the moment. He would be staying by Castiel with every step as it was; if he fell, Dean would catch him.

He gave a nod to Jo, and she peeked out of their hiding place and took a long look around, moving forward when she was seemingly satisfied that there was nothing nearby. Dean followed, one hand at the small of Castiel's back as Castiel limped out. The limp was notably worse than before, every step looking like it was the last one he could manage, and Dean stayed close as they began to trudge through the jungle once again.

Every snap of a twig or shift of leaves had them on high alert; any moment Dean expected a narrow snout to shove through the trees, teeth to snap down on one of them. He tried to watch their surroundings and keep an eye on Castiel at the same time, never more than a couple of feet away, ready to step in at any moment should he start to fall. Hours earlier Castiel would have complained about Dean's fussing, but he was obviously out of strength to argue about it.

Dean didn't know how much longer Castiel could keep putting one foot in front of the other before his body finally gave out on him.

It wasn't very bright yet, the sun still trying to creep over the horizon, but he still caught sight of something stark white off to their left. "Jo," he said, and she turned around fast, obviously expecting a dinosaur of some kind. She let out a held breath in relief, working her way back to them as Dean helped Castiel sit down on a fallen log.

What he'd seen was barely three feet away, but well hidden in a dip in the terrain and surrounded by bushes. Dean knelt and pushed the leaves aside, and he heard Jo's breath catch as she caught sight of the dozen or so bright white eggs sitting neatly in a muddy nest. They were huge, probably about the same size as an ostrich egg, but more oblong. They definitely weren't the eggs of any native species around here.

"That's impossible," she breathed out, and Dean frowned, trying to remember their tour of the science labs, what Kevin had said about their cloning process.

"He said they were all female…how could they make that big of a mistake?" Jo asked, and Dean shook his head slowly.

"They didn't. The dinosaurs are breeding."

Jo gave him a deadpan look. "…look, I know you men are into the whole lesbian porn thing, but I was pretty sure you understood that penis plus vag equals baby," she pointed out, and Dean laughed and shook his head.

"That's not what I meant," he said. "Look, what kind of DNA did he say they used to fill gaps in the dinosaur DNA?"

"Frog, uh…amphibian, and maybe crocodile, I think?"

Dean nodded, already beginning to suspect what was going on- but it was so farfetched, such a strange idea, he wasn't even sure he could convince himself to believe it. "Frog DNA. There are…some frogs that can change sex spontaneously in a same sex environment. If the influence from that DNA was strong enough…"

"You're saying the dinosaurs had a spontaneous sex change?" Castiel asked from behind them, his voice rough, and Dean chuckled.

"Well, it doesn't sound very believable when you put it like that, but…yeah. Given the right conditions, it's possible. I mean, how else do you explain this? It's not like they wouldn't have noticed if one of the dinosaurs was male," Dean pointed out, and then Jo stood up and looked around at the trees.

"You know, probably not a good idea to sit and chat over a nest of eggs that probably has a mother hanging around," she said, and the excitement of the discovery drained out of Dean in an instant, remembering the Stegosaurus swinging their spiked tails at the Spinosaurus, vicious in protecting their young. She was right, and they needed to put distance between themselves and the nest before the mother returned.

"Yeah, let's go," he said, moving to help Castiel stand up again as Jo took the lead. At least it was getting easier and easier to see as the sun rose; they weren't stumbling around blind anymore.

It didn't feel like they'd walked much farther before they came upon something other than trees- the perimeter fences was in front of them, stretching as far as the eye could see in both directions, the sunrise finally beginning to shine off the metal cables. The lights at the top of the fence were still off, much like they'd been at the T-Rex paddock, and Dean hoisted himself up onto the platform.

"Here goes nothing," he said, praying he was right, and Jo's protests died in her throat as he reached out and touched the wire. Nothing happened; the power was still off to the fences. Strangely enough, that was a good thing for them right now, because there was no break in any part of the fence that he could see, and he definitely didn't want to drag Castiel up and down this fence line just hoping to find a lucky break.

"Cas…you think you can make it up and over this if we help you? We're almost there," he asked, though his stomach twisted at having to ask more of Castiel after everything he'd already been through. Jo didn't speak up this time; it seemed they'd both taken the scolding they got earlier to heart, and Dean was going to let him decide his limits for now. That didn't mean he couldn't help him, though.

Castiel looked up at the nearly 30 foot tall fence with some mixture of dread and resignation, but it was obvious that he understood the alternative was out of the question. "I can manage," he said, and Dean reached down, Jo helping from below to get Castiel up onto the concrete platform.

Then, something roared from the trees- not very close, but close enough that they definitely knew they had to get over this fence, and quick.

Jo followed Castiel onto the platform, and they each started the climb up the fence, one on each side of Castiel to support him and keep most of the weight off his injured leg. The top was tricky, but they managed to get onto the other side, slowing down a little now that they were on the 'safe' side of the fence.

But the safe side of the fence didn't feel so safe anymore when they were fifteen feet off the ground still, and the green light began flashing, setting off a loud buzzer. It was enough to nearly startle Castiel off the fence, but he managed to hook his arms on the cables as Dean and Jo helped him get steady.

"Shit. They're turning the fences on," Dean said, looking down at the ground below. There were thick ferns and bushes at the base of the concrete platform, and the platform was only about three feet wide; if they could manage to jump past the platform, the foliage would break their fall.

"Dean, please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking," Jo said, following Dean's gaze to the bottom of the fence.

"We don't have a choice, Jo, this fence is going live any second," Dean said, looking at Castiel, who was breathing hard from the work of getting this far. "Castiel. Cas, buddy, I need to know you can do this. I know it sucks, but we've gotta jump. You've gotta aim for the bushes, okay?" he said, dread settling in his stomach like a lead weight as Castiel looked down at the bushes. There was real fear in his eyes, the kind Dean had only seen when there were dinosaurs on their tail.

"I'll jump with you. We'll go together, okay?" he said, and Castiel met his gaze, trembling all over- whether from the fear or the pain or both, Dean didn't know. But Castiel nodded, and Dean gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile before looking past him to Jo.

"Ready, sis?" he asked, and she nodded too, though he knew that she liked this idea about as much as the idea of getting fried by a dinosaur fence.

"Okay. On the count of three, push off as hard as you can," Dean said, knowing that this would not be a pretty landing, but they didn't exactly have time to go over a safe stunt landing and how one would execute it into a bunch of plants.

Harrison Ford never had to leap off an electric fence into a bunch of ferns.

"One…two…three!"

Dean shoved away from the fence just as Jo and Castiel did the same, and mere seconds before the warning buzzer stopped and the air around the fence crackled with flowing electricity. They'd leapt just in time.

He closed his eyes when he felt for sure that they might hit the edge of the concrete platform- but the next thing he knew he was slamming into twisted branches and leaves, Castiel's arm pulled from his in the fall and his breath shoved out of him forcibly. He was pretty certain there were twigs that had actually skewered him, and he gasped harshly for air, trying to right himself in the tangle of bushes.

He dropped onto the grass beside the bush, pain flaring through his hip and arm where he'd taken most of the impact. He pulled on a rather stubborn twig and quickly found out that it was stubborn because it was pierced through the flesh of his left arm, and he closed his eyes and tried not to think as he yanked it free.

And yeah, okay, he whimpered a little at that, because it fucking hurt, okay?

"Cas," he choked out, still trying to force his lungs to let him breathe as he sat up and looked for his friends. Jo was standing up and stumbling free of the bushes, clutching her right arm to her chest with a pained expression, but he didn't see Castiel, not at first. Not till he struggled to his feet and took the few steps back to the bushes.

Castiel didn't look conscious. He was still laying tangled among the branches, his breath coming in shallow gasps, and Dean immediately worked to pull him free and lay him down on the grass. Nothing looked broken, just some new scratches and bruises, but the impact had hit him harder than it had Dean or Jo. He'd already been compromised before the jump.

Castiel was at the breaking point. The scale was tipping, and not in his favor.

"Let's go," Dean said, shoving the pain aside and lifting Castiel carefully into his arms. Jo nodded, still cradling her arm close, and Dean's worried expression deepened. "You alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine. It's not broken," Jo insisted. "Just landed on it wrong."

Dean had to take her word for it. They could take an inventory of injuries later; right now, they needed to get to the docks, and the smell of salt was tantalizingly thick in the air proving that they were definitely close. He started up the hill, feeling Castiel trembling in his arms and throwing prayers to any god or angel who might be listening. Maybe the angel of Thursday would throw in a blessing for his namesake.

They were within sight of the dock buildings when Castiel finally came to. He was confused at first, disoriented, and it obviously took a minute before he even seemed to comprehend what was happening.

"Hey there," Dean said with a weak smile, basking in even the small amount of relief that Castiel had woken up at all. "Perfect timing, we're almost there. Can you stay awake for me?"

Castiel nodded, though Dean wasn't sure if he even understood the question. And judging by the warmth of Castiel's skin even through the clothing, a fever had begun to set in.

Jo led the way down the abandoned dock and into the first building, which looked like half of it was supplies storage, and the other half was a small kitchen. Dean laid Castiel out on one of the tables, wishing he had something to put down to cushion the hard metal for Castiel, but there was no time. He pressed his hand against Castiel's forehead and winced- he was burning up with a fever.

Jo was already tearing through the cabinets, sending dishes and pans clattering to the floor as she searched. "Here!" she finally shouted, hauling a white box from one of the lower cabinets and handing it over to Dean.

"Great. Fill that pitcher with water, then see if you can find any cold compresses," he said, nodding toward a pitcher sitting beside the sink, and Jo was on it without a moment of hesitation. Dean opened the box and began digging out anything that looked helpful; he wasn't an expert or anything, but he'd had plenty of people get injured here and there on dig sites. He knew the basics, at least.

Bandages, antibiotic ointment, aspirin, bandages and tape were all put out on the table by the time Jo returned with the pitcher full of water. Dean carefully peeled the soaked flannel away from Castiel's skin and tossed it aside, his throat going tight as he got his first real good look at the damage.

He was beginning to wonder if they weren't better off trying a field amputation; but he couldn't do it. Couldn't even begin to imagine it. He would do the best he could with what he had, and the first order of business needed to be getting all the dirt and pus cleaned out of the wound.

"Cas, I'm gonna get started cleaning this, okay? I won't lie, this is probably gonna hurt like hell," he said, and Castiel nodded, though at least he seemed…present. Like he was finally in tune with what was going on, for the moment. Taking advantage of that, Dean grabbed a cup and tore open a packet of aspirin, dumping the pills out and helping Castiel sit up a little. Sure, aspirin was a blood thinner, but they had the bleeding stopping for now, and the fever was just as pressing of a concern at the moment.

"Here. Swallow these for me. It'll get that fever down," he insisted, dropping the pills into Castiel's hand. Castiel stared at them for a few moments before finally putting them in his mouth, and Dean tilted the cup of water to his lips, making sure he got down a long drink before he helped him lay back down.

He grabbed the gloves from the kit and snapped them on, not wanting to just put more dirt from his hands into the wound, and then he carefully tilted the water pitcher over Castiel's leg until the water flowed steadily. Castiel let out an agonized wail and his fingers slipped against the slick surface as Dean moved the pitcher downward, flushing the dirt out as best he could. He was just happy Castiel hadn't jerked his leg away from the pain.

"The cold compresses aren't very cold. Power was out too long," Jo said as she returned to his side, and Dean had figured as much, but it never hurt to check. Jo took one of Castiel's hands in hers, and laid her other hand gently on his forehead, trying to give him some measure of comfort in the pain.

It took two more full pitchers of water to finally feel like he'd done the best he could getting anything foreign out of the mess of torn muscle and flesh, and by then Castiel was gasping harshly through his nose, his jaw clenched and his hands gripping the edge of the table and Jo's hand with a white knuckled grip. Despite it being her injured arm he was grabbing at, she didn't complain; she continued gently stroking his hair as Dean sorted through the supplies, hands shaking as he tried to decide what to do next.

The antibiotic ointment couldn't hurt, even if it was too little too late, he imagined. It was tricky applying it to the wound, but he worked quickly, finally setting it aside when he finished and taking a glance at Castiel's face. He wasn't going to stay conscious much longer; his eyes had fallen closed again, and his grip on Jo's hand had gone slack.

"Jo…I need you to go find a car," Dean said, hating sending her away alone, even if he knew they were outside the main fence now. "Find one with a full tank and bring it up to the door here. We're going to make a break for the Visitors Center. That's where everyone will be, and that's where the helipad is."

Jo frowned. "Wouldn't it be safer to wait here, outside the fence?"

"Maybe if we knew they know we're out here. They probably think we're dead," Dean pointed out, remembering what had been left of Crowley back at the paddock. Would there have been enough left for them to identify every piece as the lawyer? Or did they think all four of them died on that road? "We can't afford to sit still and hope someone brings the rescue to us. We need to go to them," he continued, shaking his head. He couldn't worry about that right now. He needed to concentrate on the things he knew he could change.

Jo sighed. "Alright. I'll be right back. I'll honk when I pull up, you can bring him straight out."

Dean nodded and pulled Jo in for a half hug, kissing the top of her head. "Be careful, Jo," he said, and though he expected her to tease him for it, she just smiled before she headed for the door.

Dean wrapped the wound carefully in two layers of clean, white gauze, taping it in place securely; but he couldn't help but feel that the efforts just came too late. Castiel's skin was uncomfortably hot to the touch, and he was completely out now, not even stirring when Dean shook him or said his name. Shivers still wracked through his body as Dean lifted him again, holding the man carefully against his chest for only a few seconds before a horn blew outside.

He carried Castiel to the door and pushed it open with his shoulder, and Jo stood by an open top Jeep outside- and in her hands she had a stack of rifles. "These were in a cabinet in the garage. I borrowed them," she said, opening the door to the backseat and getting in to help Dean lay Castiel down on the seat. Jo cradled Castiel's head in her lap, setting the rifles on the floor- but not before slinging one over her arm and handing one to Dean.

He took the rifle and ran to the driver's side, getting in and swiveling in his seat to look at Jo. "Make sure he doesn't get knocked around. I don't know how good these roads will be," he said, and she nodded with a forced smile.

"Just be ready to gun it. I am not getting snatched out of a car by a T-Rex because you inherited your grandma's driving," she teased, and Dean smiled and turned back to the front, putting the Jeep in gear and pulling away from the building with a screech of tires.

Sam was trying not to imagine the worst as he skidded to a stop in front of the Visitors Center. He was trying not to imagine the raptor crouched over Gabriel and Charlie, their bodies torn open like Meg's had been. He was trying not to summon those mental pictures, and failing miserably.

He went to the back of the Jeep and opened it up, and then proceeded to load up on as many weapons as he could possibly carry without feeling like every step would be setting off a gun. With the extras slung over his shoulders and one held at the ready, he climbed the stairs to the center, finding the front doors ajar.

He refused to be caught off guard this time. He edged into the lobby, the T-Rex skeleton enough to have his heart beating faster as it loomed over him like a ghost of what he'd seen the night before. He didn't see any raptors, though, so he began to move toward the kitchen as quickly and quietly as possible.

When he looked carefully around the corner into the dining room, though, he saw that the situation was more dire than he'd thought. Two raptors stood by the remains of what had once been the breakfast buffet, and they appeared to be squabbling over a pan that still had some sausage spilling out of it.

He saw his opportunity- they were snapping at each other, and when they weren't fighting they had their heads buried in the pans, and the kitchen door was directly across from him.

He just might be able to make it.

He moved achingly slow across the room, freezing anytime one of the raptors lifted its head from the pans of food. It felt like hours of inching his way across the gaudy carpet, but in reality it was maybe a minute before he reached the safety of the kitchen and shut the door behind him, barricading it with a spare rifle as Bobby had done before.

…Okay, maybe the kitchen wasn't so safe, because the raptor at the freezer door had turned and was now staring him down.

He didn't even give the animal a chance to get close. He fired off six shots in quick succession, each one slowing the raptor's charge a little more until it finally went down hard, sliding almost all the way to Sam's feet. It was still screeching and snapping at his feet, and he aimed right at the raptor's skull and fired one last shot.

"Sam?" Charlie said, peeking her head out of the freezer, and the look on her face became one of sheer joy when she saw him. She pushed the door the rest of the way open and took off at a run, stepping over the dead raptor and tackling Sam in a tight hug.

"Oh my god, I've never been happier to see a heavily armed man in my life," she muttered against his chest. Gabriel had followed her out of the freezer and was now studying the dead raptor with what looked like regret- regret over making it in the first place or regret that it had to be killed, he didn't know.

"Where's Bobby?" Gabriel asked, and Sam shifted his weight uncomfortably, holding out a gun to Charlie. She took it and held onto it like a lifeline.

"He, uh…he stayed behind. To make sure all the raptors didn't follow me here," he said softly, and Charlie went pale as Gabriel's face fell. He silently took the gun that Sam offered to him, and looked like he was about to speak when something hit the door to the dining room hard. The gun held, though, but he knew it wouldn't last.

"Is there another way out of here to get back to the control room?" he asked Gabriel, and Gabriel shook his head.

"One door in and out. And that door isn't really a good choice."

"Who says we have to use a door?" Charlie asked, and then she slung the rifle across her shoulder and hopped up onto one of the long food prep tables. She reached up and prodded at a ceiling panel until it popped free. "This ventilation system runs through every room in the building. I can get us there."

Sam gave her a skeptical frown. "Will I even fit in there?" he asked, and Charlie paused, giving him a helpless shrug.

"Maybe…? But the alternative is Vam Damme'ing your way past two raptors," she pointed out, and Sam had to admit, she had a point.

"Let's try it," he said, helping Gabriel up onto the table as the door shuddered with another blow. The gun slipped a little; it wouldn't take much more of this abuse before it gave way.

Gabriel helped Charlie pull herself up into the ceiling, and then Sam shouldered his gun and climbed up on the table, having to bend down a little to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. He gave Gabriel a boost into the ventilation shaft, and then pulled himself up and into the narrow shaft just as there was a massive crash and the door slammed open.

It was impossible to be quiet or sneaky in the ventilation shaft. The thin metal popped and groaned with every shift, and Sam could hear the clicking of the raptors' claws below him, and catch glimpses of movement when they came across the grated tiles that were equally spread along the bottom of the metal shaft.

He was about to call ahead to Charlie to move faster when the grated tile in front of him- the one Gabriel was currently crossing- suddenly lurched upward, shoved by a raptor's nose. Gabriel dropped with a scream, barely managing to catch his fingers on the edge of the metal, and Sam reached down and grabbed onto his arms, pulling as hard as he could.

The raptor had fallen after its jump to dislodge the grate, but it was recovering, struggling to its feet on the slick floor. Gabriel hauled himself up into the shaft to his waist, and Sam reached down and grabbed the man's legs, pulling them out of reach of the raptor just as it leapt and snapped at him.

"Go, we're good!" he yelled ahead, and they started moving again, Sam carefully crossing over the gap to follow as the raptors paced below. But they couldn't follow when the shaft led past the wall and over a different room, and Sam relaxed a little, though he looked carefully through every grate they passed over.

When they finally dropped down into the control room, it was blissfully empty, and the windows and doors were still closed and intact. Charlie rushed to the nearest computer and began typing, and Gabriel and Sam moved to the doors and windows, dragging over whatever furniture they could find to barricade the weak points. They knew it wouldn't be long before the raptors tracked them down, and anything to slow them long enough for the bullets to hit home would be a blessing.

"Can you bring up the cameras, Charlie?" Sam asked as he moved back to the computer to see what she was doing. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard, her face a mask of concentration.

"One thing at a time, Sam. Phones and door locks first," she said, her eyes scanning the screen- Sam was good with computers, but even he didn't have the first clue what he was looking at. A few more keystrokes, and the phone at the end of Charlie's desk beeped to life. Another few buttons pressed, and the door locks snapped into place.

"We are good to go!" she said proudly, and Gabriel was already grabbing the phone, stabbing the numbers on the keypad with his finger.

"Alright, let's get the cameras up and running," Charlie said, bringing up a new screen as Gabriel waited for someone to answer the phone. Finally someone picked up, and he sighed with relief.

"Roberto, we need an emergency chopper at the center like, yesterday. Evac for three people," he said, and Sam shot him a pointed glare. Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Okay, evac for three or six people. Something like that. I don't care how, just get a damn chopper here."

There was a short argument about refueling- evidently the helicopter pilot didn't want to fly into an emergency situation when the helicopter would need to refuel to make it back- but with some clever threats of lawsuit and some well placed bribes, they came to a quick agreement.

"How long?" Charlie asked.

"Hour and a half. And once he lands he's only keeping the chopper touched down long enough to do a hot refuel. Anybody who's not in the helicopter when it's fueled up is getting left here," Gabriel explained, and Sam shook his head.

"I'm not leaving without the others," he said, and he meant it. He would sit here with a stack of rifles and hold the raptors off till the last bullet rather than leave Dean, Castiel, and Jo alone on this island.

"Cameras are up," Charlie said, getting to her feet and going to the bank of monitors along the wall. Sam followed, going from one screen to the next, looking for any signs of non-reptilian life. At first, none of them were having any luck- until Charlie pointed to one of the middle screens. "Here!"

Sam was at her side before she finished the word. On the screen was a long dirt road, and he could see a Jeep hurtling down the road at a fast clip. "Can't we get any closer in?" he asked, and Charlie squinted at the monitor.

"Jeep 014," she said to herself, the number emblazoned on the hood of the Jeep. She dropped down in her chair and began typing again, pulling up screen after screen. "Every car is equipped with a custom GPS unit. If I can key it in, I can set the cameras to automatically focus it when the vehicle crosses into their view," she explained, and Sam waited impatiently as the Jeep drove off the view of the camera.

Gabriel was eerily quiet, clutching a bowl of candy as he watched Charlie work. It was like with his whole fantasy world crumbling down around him, he no longer knew what to do with himself.

"There," Charlie said, getting up and going back to the wall of cameras. One of the monitors had a tiny green square lit up in the corner, and that camera went black before turning on again, this time focused in on the moving vehicle.

Sam let out a breath that he felt like he'd been holding all night. Dean was driving the Jeep, and Jo was sitting in the backseat behind him, and they both looked alright- scratched and bruised, but alive and alert. As the camera swiveled to follow the Jeep's motion it was easier to see down into the open top, and Sam took in a sharp breath when he saw that Castiel was laying across the backseat, his head in Jo's lap, one leg heavily bandaged and his eyes closed. It was impossible to see more detail than that, but it hadn't looked good, and he could see Gabriel staring over at the screen like he'd seen a ghost.

"They're alright," Sam said a firm nod, looking over at Gabriel. "They wouldn't be bringing Castiel back with them if he wasn't going to make it. He'll be alright," he insisted, but Gabriel didn't answer him, didn't even bother acknowledging that he'd heard him at all.

"They're still an hour out. This might be close," Charlie said, watching as a new camera locked on to where the Jeep was.

"Maybe I should go meet them. Help them with Castiel," Sam said, but Charlie shook her head.

"If they don't run into any huge trouble, they'll need the most help when they get here. The helipad is on the roof, and the stairwell to the roof is down the main hallway. No way will the raptors miss six people running down that hall," she explained. "We need to save our bullets. They'll make it. They've made it this far on their own."

Sam wanted to believe her. Now that he knew Dean was alive and okay, it was a little easier to hope; he just had to trust that his brother could get Jo and Castiel through this last leg of their journey.

He couldn't help them now. He could only watch until they drove up to the doors of the center, and hope no dinosaurs took interest in the Jeep along the way.