Author's note – Hi there! It's finally done. The fifth chapter. A big thank you to all those who have taken the time to read my story so far and an even bigger thank you to those who left such wonderful reviews. You guys are awesome!

Chapter Five

"w…up…Dean…lease…wake up…"

A small, frightened voice begged brokenly.

Sam heard it without understanding the words, too focussed on trying to claw his way back to consciousness but struggling to escape the smothering blackness that seemed reluctant to loosen its hold on his mind.

"Please, you have to wake up." The voice said again.

I'm trying, Sam thought, having understood the words this time but not realising that they weren't meant for him.

Finally, the blackness began to recede, leaving Sam with a faint ringing in his ears and a back that felt like it was on fire. He groaned and the desperate voice suddenly stopped.

Sam pried his eyes open and found himself lying face down on a hard, wooden floor. And it was light. How long had he been out?

He tried to push himself up but fell back down with a gasp when his back erupted in pain.

For a moment, his mind struggled to piece together enough memories to figure out what had happened to him and then he remembered. He remembered the raid and the fighting and the hunter and Luther and the bomb. He remembered everything.

A sharp feeling of betrayal stabbed at his heart but he pushed it away for later. Now was not the time.

He tried to sit up again, slowly this time so that it wouldn't be as painful but, although he managed to heave himself upright, moving still really hurt.

He looked around fuzzily, taking in the smashed window, the gaping, ragged hole in the middle of the floor and the scorched black wardrobe and then his gaze strayed towards the exit and he felt his eyes widen in surprise.

Laid out on the ground next to the door was the hunter from last night, limbs splayed out messily, face pale and pinched in pain even in his unconscious state.

That part didn't surprise Sam. He knew the hunter wouldn't have made it out of the room fast enough to avoid the blast if he hadn't. Although, the fact that he was still alive was a little astonishing.

No, what surprised Sam was the young boy kneeling next to the hunter. He couldn't have been any older than twelve and was staring at Sam in growing terror. He looked a lot like the hunter, Sam thought, but his eyes weren't quite as green and his hair was lighter. Sam didn't know where this boy had come from or how he had managed to stay alive through the attack but he wasn't going to ask. He was too tired to care.

Sam clambered to his feet a lot less gracefully than he was used to and tried his very best to ignore the pain. His head ached a little but when Sam felt at his forehead, there was only a slight bump from where he had hit the wall. Thankfully his healing abilities had kicked in to save him from concussion even if it hadn't been able to help his back all that much.

The last time he remembered being this badly burned was when he had accidentally fallen asleep outside during the day. He had woken up with bright red skin and weeping sores. Mary had grounded him for two weeks when he finally returned home.

As he approached the two humans, the boy shrunk back a little but he resolutely kept one arm on the hunters shoulder as he shook him and breathed, "Dean, please."

Sam didn't pay the boy any further attention. He was too small and too scared to be a threat of any kind. He focused instead on the limp hunter called Dean and on how he was going to haul him out of the way without murdering his back all over again.

"Stay away from us," the boy said, voice wavering.

Sam rolled his eyes. "If I did that, I wouldn't be able to leave the room now, and you'd be stuck in here with me all day. Is that what you want?"

The boy balked. Apparently he hadn't been expecting a reply.

Sam waited and finally the boy hesitantly shook his head.

"That's what I thought," Sam smirked. "You know this guy?" He indicated the hunter with a flick of his head.

The boy nodded this time. "My brother."

Brothers. The striking similarities between them made sense now.

"Don't suppose you can move him out of the way for me?"

It was a long shot. The boy was half the size of Dean but Sam really hoped the boy could be able to drag him out of the way so he wouldn't have to do anything strenuous.

The long shot worked. The boy hooked his arms under Dean's pits and slowly pulled him back, just far enough so that Sam had access to door.

"Appreciate it," Sam said tiredly and opened the door to leave.

He would travel home, let everyone know he had survived (Mary would be so worried) and then he would talk to the commander about Luther, assuming Luther was still alive. Treachery was not something that was tolerated within the city.

But the moment he stepped into the corridor, an image flashed through his mind that made him he pause. He saw the moment Dean had realised how young Sam was, saw how he stared at him in shock and withdrew the knife a little. The hunter could have killed him then and there but he hadn't.

Sam shook his head, trying to dislodge the memory. It didn't matter that the hunter had spared him momentarily. He would have killed him in the end, right? He was a hunter and that's what they did.

But the memory wouldn't be dislodged and Sam sighed angrily. Of course, his conscience would act up again now of all times, when all he wanted to do was go home.

He stilled and focused on his hearing. He hadn't had to do this in a while and it was something he had always found difficult but eventually he was able to pick up the sound of Dean's beating heart.

It was slow and weak, barely even there and his breathing was shallow, and Sam knew with a surety that if he didn't receive help soon, he would die. Even with assistance, that was still a possibility.

With another self-loathing sigh, Sam trudged back into the room.

The boy glanced up at him, fear lighting his eyes yet again. Sam tried to not let that bother him.

"What's your name, Kid?"

The boy hesitated a moment before replying. "Adam."

"Okay, Adam, I need you to listen to me. Your brother is dying."

Adam flinched.

"He needs help and judging by the lack of nearby noise, I'm guessing we are the only ones still here."

The boy nodded again.

Sam was glad of that. If there had been other humans about, escaping the broken village might have proven difficult and if there had been any vampires left in the area, then Dean and Adam were as good as dead anyway.

"I need to check him and see what's wrong. I promise I'm not going to hurt him. Or you," he added as an afterthought.

"You're going to help us?" Adam looked positively confounded by the notion.

"I'm going to try." Sam stressed. Damn conscience.

"And…you're not going to eat us?"

A bark of laughter escaped Sam's lips. "I haven't done so yet, have I?"

The answer seemed to pacify Adam because he shuffled away slightly, allowing Sam look at his older brother.

Sam knelt stiffly and felt at Dean with gentle fingers. He found a large bump on the side of his head, just above his ear, and there was an awful lot of blood dried up in his hair and streaked down the side of his face.

And then there were the burns. His left hand and arm were covered in red and pink blotches that seemed to extend up under the sleeve of his grey T-shirt. Sam turned him slightly and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the shirt was still whole at the back. Dean hadn't been as badly burned as him and for that Sam was grateful. He slowly lowered Dean onto his back again and turned to Adam.

"I'm going to need clean water, towels, some scissors and a couple of blankets. Think you can find all that for me?"

Sam didn't know a whole lot about first aid. He had never really had to learn. All he usually had to do was down some blood, try to not throw it back up and wait for his body to do the rest but he knew enough about the immediate treatment of sunburn and figured the same principle applied here.

Adam nodded quickly and got up to leave but he hesitated at the door, sending Sam another wary frown.

"I won't hurt him. You have my word." Sam tried to assure him.

Adam muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, 'Oh goody, the word of a vampire,' but he still left to find the requested items.

Sam turned his attention back to the hunter, listening again to his weak breaths and struggling heartbeat. Then he glanced at the gaping hole that was still there in the middle of the room. It wasn't really practical or safe to treat Dean in there.

"Sorry, man, I know you probably shouldn't be moved in your state but I've not got much of a choice." Sam told the prone hunter before picking him up, bridal style, and carrying him to the next nearest room, which was untouched by the earlier battle. He placed him on one of the mattresses. At least he would be more comfortable on there than he would on the floor.

The cold, clammy feel of his skin concerned Sam but he tried to ignore the worry and focus instead on helping.

He tapped Dean lightly on the cheek. "Okay, wake up, dude, your brother needs you."

Dean's eyelids fluttered and hope soared through Sam. Maybe the hunter wasn't a lost cause after all. He tapped him again. "Hey, you in there?"

Dean groaned weakly and turned away from the offending hand.

"You need to wake up." Sam insisted, tapping him harder this time and Dean's eyes snapped open. They were unfocused and the pupils were blown wide, probably with concussion, but they were open.

Sam grinned, pleased with himself. "There you are."

"Whaa hap'n?" Dean slurred, eyes staring up just slightly to the left of Sam's face.

"You're going to be alright. Just lie still." Sam instructed him.

S few moments later, Dean's eyes seemed to gain focus and recognition flooded them almost instantly. "You!" He gasped, lurching back from him violently. "Fang…you…where's my brother? What did you do to him? Adam? ADAM!" He bellowed and Sam winced.

Adam was in the room almost instantly, his arms laden with towels and blankets.

"Dean," he cried, dropping the blankets and rushing to the aid of his brother. "Are you okay?"

Dean grasped at Adam's hands almost desperately. "Adam, what - "

"You were hurt, Dean, but it's okay. We're gonna get you better."

Dean shot a panicked look in Sam's direction, "But…"

"It's alright. He's on our side."

Dean looked as though he was going to argue further but he promptly passed out again before he could utter another sound. Sam barely had time to catch his head before it bounced on the lumpy mattress.

"Dean?" Adam squeaked in alarm.

Sam felt at Dean's thready pulse. "He's okay, just tired. Did you get everything?"

"Everything except the water but there's a bathroom at the end of the corridor."

"That'll work," Sam said, handing three of the towels back to Adam. "Go and soak these in water. Try to make it lukewarm. We don't want it too cold."

Adam left and Sam fished out a pair of scissors from underneath the bundle of blankets. He carefully cut up the side of Dean's sleeve, all the way up to the collar and gently pulled back the fabric. Thankfully it hadn't stuck to his skin and was easily moved out of the way.

Sam assessed the damage and was pleased to find the burns didn't extend any further than the shoulder. The hunter had been lucky really. It could have been a lot worse.

When Adam returned with the sodden towels, Sam took two of them and wrapped them loosely around the burned limb, making sure everything was covered. With the third, he gently wiped the blood away from Dean's face and dabbed at his head, careful that he didn't accidentally reopen the wound.

Dean groaned again but didn't reawaken.

Adam watched Sam's every move with openly suspicious eyes and Sam couldn't help but be a little offended that the boy still didn't trust him to keep his promise. If he had wanted to kill them, he could have done it several time over by now.

Finally, he draped a couple of the blankets over Dean to keep him warm, avoiding the wounded arm.

"We'll need to re-soak the towels every so often but that's about all we can do for now. The rest is up to him." He informed the boy who just nodded dismally from his place at Dean's side. He reached under the covers and gripped Dean's uninjured hand between both of his.

With a sigh, Sam pushed himself up to wash off in the bathroom, when Adam glanced up at him sharply. "You're hurt too, aren't you? I saw your back. Do you need any help?"

Sam was a little shocked that the boy would even bother to ask but he masked his surprise with a small smile. "Nah, I'm good. Give it a couple of days and my back will be good as new. No hope for my coat though."

He hadn't taken them off to check yet but the draft he felt was enough to tell him that the back of his coat and shirt were shredded beyond repair.

Adam shrugged, "Okay, if you're sure."

Sam retreated out of the room and let Adam have a few moments alone with his brother.

He was quietly proud of what he had been able to do for Dean, especially considering his lack of medical knowledge but worry still niggled at him. Human bodies were weak, fragile even, and they healed so slowly.

Dean wasn't out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.

Note - I'm so sorry I re-uploaded this chapter again but I realised that some of the things said were out of character and I just had to make the changes because it was bugging me.