NIGHTMARE SCENARIO
Owing to the fact that I was able to blag a day off work today (huzzah), I'm able to post the next chapter.
The boys are in dire straights; but surely, and a combination of a dire situation and Winchester luck can lead to dire consequences ...
Chapter 6
xxxxx
Dean peered round the side of the pilot's seat, watching the door at the back of the plane intently. He wasn't sure how long since Sam had left and how long he'd been watching that door, but then at the moment, he wasn't sure about a lot of things.
For instance, he wasn't sure if he was hungry or thirsty; he suspected it was both, but then, that grinding empty pit in his belly could just as likely be fear.
He wasn't sure if he was hot or cold, he was shivering wildly, but then the sweat was pouring off of him. Sammy had said that he was getting feverish; and Sammy was normally right about things like that. Maybe he was, but then again, it might just be that he was scared.
He wasn't sure if his leg was hurting, or whether it was tingling, or whether it was just plain numb; but then again it could all be down to the knock on his head, and maybe he was just imagining the whole thing. Or on the other hand, it could be the fact that he was worried sick.
But the worst thing of all, he wasn't sure that Sam was going to come back; that was the thing that scared him more than anything.
Xxxxx
Sam wasn't sure how long he had been walking; he had been concentrating hard on trying to find those buildings with zero success so far, he hadn't noticed the sky darkening around him as the Sun dipped below the horizon. Crap! he had promised Dean he would get back to the plane before nightfall.
He pulled his sweatshirt around him, the night chill was already starting to bite; he looked around him. Should he stay put? Wait until Sun up before he headed back to Dean? Should he turn round right now? Dean would be scared to death; he was already in bad straights, what would a night alone worrying about Sam do to him?
Sam was sure those buildings couldn't be that far away, he must have come about five miles already. He looked back at the last traces of sunlight as they played along the horizon behind him. He'd just spend a little more time looking around, after all what use was he going back to Dean with no food, no water and no help.
As long as he kept those last creeping tendrils of daylight to his back, he'd be fine …
Xxxxx
Dean woke from a fitful sleep, blinking as his eyes accustomed to the darkness. His heart sank when despite his best efforts, there was no sign of Sam. He shivered, burrowing down into the fleece that Sam had left him and reached for the water bottle. He tilted his head back and drained the last few precious drops from it.
His fevered mind wandered to terrible images of Sam meandering lost in the desert; burned, delirious, stumbling, thirsty, scared …
"Where are you S-Sammy?" He whispered miserably, "don' wan' you to be 'lone ..."
Xxxxx
Sam watched the Sun rise; desperately thirsty, he had finished the last of his water earlier in the night; he spat in an attempt to disloge a film of desert dust which was coating his mouth. His disorientated steps became shorter and shorter as he stumbled onwards; his only thought to get back to the plane, to Dean.
Already the desert's heat was becoming overpowering, the Sun's rays a blinding white furnace that filled the sky, burning away his hope, mocking his futile attempts to find his way back to the plane.
He stared at the empty bottle; unsure whether he could see some water in it or not; he knew, even if he got back to the plane, there was no water there either. Nor was there any food. But what was there was Dean.
He thought of Dean, in the plane, alone, injured and sick, wondering where Sam could be, afraid to die alone.
Sam set his jaw, his resolve strengthened by his need to return to Dean; He scanned every horizon for some clue of the way back to his brother and found none.
He sunk to his knees in defeated despair.
Xxxxx
Dean panted wearily as the oppressive heat bore down on him; the knot of worry in his chest tightening to an intense grip; an ice-cold fist squeezing his heart and sucking the air out of his lungs.
Where the hell was Sammy. Why wasn't he back?
He shifted uncomfortably, stifling a cry as pain radiated through his leg.
Sam would be getting help, that's where he was; he was probably talking to someone who could help, right now. Sam didn't let people down, Sam was clever, heck, Sam would have probably landed the plane and got it down in such good condition, he could have taken right off again. He'll be turning up any time now with some water, some food and probably even a doctor in tow.
Dean smiled queasily at the image.
Where was he?
Xxxxx
The next time Dean opened his eyes, dusk had begun to fall; his vision swam as he blinked through the failing light, desperate to see the one thing he wanted and the one thing that wasn't there.
Sammy.
His head sunk back, leaning against the window; he no longer had the strength to hold it up. He stared at the discarded water bottle, there was still no water in it; why hadn't Sammy topped it up?
Why was he so thirsty?
Dean's hands shook as he gathered up the sweat soaked fleece, absently kneading it with shaky fingers. He glanced around the darkening cabin with blurred vision, swallowing back a wave of nausea.
He was frightened; frightened for Sammy, frightened of the dark, frightened of the pain.
Frightened of dying alone.
Xxxxx
Suddenly Dean was jolted out of his musings by the sound of someone clambering into the back of the plane. His heart swelled as the plane gave a little sideways lurch at the weight of someone climbing into the cabin.
"S'mmy?" Dean's voice was hoarse, desperate. "S'mmy, s'at you?"
Mustering all his effort, Dean shifted with a wince, peering shakily round the pilot's seat. As they focussed through the gloom, Dean's glassy eyes widened in disbelief; his mouth worked soundlessly as the figure leaned casually on the back of the seat, and looked down at him with a smile.
"Hey Dean!"
The face that looked down on Dean was the pilot's.
Xxxxx
tbc
Once again, a happy and healthy Christmas to you all x