Authors note: it's been a really long time, so you will have to bear with me, I'm just getting back into this. I'm also currently working on my own novel to be sent to publishing so it may be a little while between updates. My promise is I will try and be frequent though.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 2

Dean hated churches. He hated a great many things, but churches were close to the top of his list. Something about them unnerved him. Maybe it was the enormous overbearing crosses everywhere, maybe it was the countless bad experiences he had had inside them, or maybe it was just that his faith in that sort of thing was so shattered he couldn't take it seriously. Whatever it was, he felt oddly uneasy whenever he entered a church and this one was absolutely no different. Sam came to stand beside his brother as Zoe cautiously took a look around.

"It's too clean," Sam's voice was low, his shoulders hunched slightly as his gaze followed Zoe around the pews.

Dean adjusted the pack on his back and nodded as Zoe came to stand beside him once more, "We need to keep moving."

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" three sets of eyes fell on the woman with short grey hair watching them.

There was something in her look that unsettled Zoe though. Something dark, "We just need to keep moving. Who are you anyway?"

"Sorry, I'm Carol," she extended her hand.

When neither Zoe nor Dean moved to embrace the gesture Sam jumped in, "I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean and Zoe."

"You guys have been out there a while huh?" Carol's eyes were on Zoe, boring into the young girl as she shifted uncomfortably.

"No longer than anyone else," Dean interjected, stepping a little closer to the young girl at his side.

"Where you guys from? You don't sound local," the slender Asian man came over to their little group, the Bella-look-a-like, as Dean called her, following him, "I'm Glenn, and this is my wife Maggie."

The two shared a heartbreakingly mushy glance before looking back to the three expectantly.

"Kansas, originally," Sam responded, his hazel eyes falling back to the two next to him.

"Wow you guys are a pretty long way from home," Maggie exclaimed.

Zoe dragged her dried out bottom lip between her teeth, snagging a little bit of skin as she did so, "we move around a lot."

"Where was your main base though? Where did you go back to? Your home I guess I should say."

Zoe gave a sad half smile, her blue eyes heavy, "we never had a home."

There were two common reactions that the three of them received whenever they told people that they didn't have a home to go back to, the first was sheer, pity, as if they were some sort of charity case that needed saving. The second, which was a little rarer but a little more unnerving, was intrigue. This time was neither though.

A thick, gravely southern accent caught them all off guard, "none o' that matters anyways, not like any of us got homes now."

Zoe's blue eyes were met with equally electric ones, her heart seemed to hitch a little as he looked her over quickly.

"This is Daryl," Carol said with a smile, her grey eyes creasing at the sides with her beaming smile.

"Fantastic," Dean sighed, "can we leave now?"

Sam shot his brother a look, "Dean."

"No don't 'Dean' me Sammy, we aren't here to play happy families," he adjusted the backpack again, a nervous twitch he had developed over the past months, "we don't know these people, we don't owe them anything and we sure as hell don't have to stay here."

"You're right, you're welcome to leave whenever you want," Rick was walking down the aisle towards them, his eyes set on his weapon as he took stock of his ammunition, "but we are doing a food and weapons run first. I don't trust you people, but I don't much like the idea of not sending you off with at least a little bit of a refuelling."

Dean still wasn't comfortable though, his eyes kept searching the place, watching how the people moved, how they carried themselves and more importantly how they interacted with each other. It was something his father had taught him when he was young, something so ingrained in him that even when things were quiet he was watching people, watching the world.

"That's nice of you," Zoe replied, her hands resting on her hips, "but we really don't need anything. Better you save it for yourselves, there's more of you after all."

A heavy silence fell over the group, all eyes going to Rick, clearly marking him as their leading man.

"Fine," his heavy eyes staring down at his boots for a moment his next sentence sounding more forced, "then can you help us before you go?"

Dean's eye twitched, apprehension pooling off of him like smoke, "help with what?"

"Help us carry supplies, get some water that sort of thing, the more able bodies there are, the more we can get back," Rick was matching Dean's unwavering look.

Ever since the day his father had died Dean had dedicated his life to keeping his little brother and Zoe safe. He loved the two of them with a fierceness that not even all the torturing in Hell could take from him. As his forest green eyes fell on his travelling companions he realised just how haggard they all must have looked. Zoe looked gaunt, her cheek bones visible and her eyes sunken and Sam looked much like someone who had been dragged backwards across a pit of glass. They were wounded, dirty, exhausted and in dire need of sleep. Seeing the two looking back at him he knew, he knew he needed to give them the break they so deserved. Yes they needed to get to Washington, but staying here, in the safety of a sheltered building instead of a few miles down the road in the open wasn't going to make much of a difference to their journey.

The older of the three turned to face them, "I'm sure we can spare a few minutes to help get these people set up don't you?"

Sam nodded, he had wanted to stay regardless so for his brother to agree simply meant he didn't have to try to convince him it was a good idea. Zoe on the other hand was sceptical. Dean was always hell bent on sticking to his decisions even if they were blatantly wrong or potentially dangerous. He never changed his mind, especially not that quickly either, that was something Sam also knew all too well, but for once he just didn't have the energy to fight his brother or question him.

"Thank you, we're going to get moving pretty soon, you can leave your things here if you want, no one will touch them," Rick said with a nod then turned and walked over to where his son was sitting. Zoe grabbed Dean by the arm and dragged him outside whilst Sam went over to join the new group and get himself acquainted with everyone.

"Why do you all of a sudden feel so strongly about helping these people?" her voice was low, but her eyes ablaze with confusion.

He lifted a shoulder absently, "I figure we should help people where we can I guess."

"You said ten seconds ago that we needed to keep moving Dean. I know you, you don't change your mind like that unless there's a reason. A good reason."

Dean ran his hand through his dirt encrusted hair and sighed, "You guys need a break and I can see it in both of you. Plus I guess staying here is a safer option than a few miles down the road strapped into a tree like we have been doing."

Zoe's eyes narrowed a little, "I don't believe you."

"Then don't believe me."

"Dean."

He shifted again uncomfortably, he hated how well both Zoe and Sam knew him. It went both ways though, he knew how they were feeling and even what they were thinking by the simple looks on their faces. They were the precious few people left in this world that knew him better than he ever knew himself, they were all he had and had been since before this mess had taken hold. How could he possibly keep secrets from them?

He sucked in a deep breath and stared down at his horrifically scuffed boots.

"Talk to me Dean," she pressed.

"I know we always use Washington as an excuse to get away from people. I know that, I also know we are working on a sort of dead line. I get that, but," he looked up, his green eyes deeper and darker than Zoe had ever seen them. A look that shook her right to her very core. It was almost like for a split second, she got to see right into the very middle of his soul, all of his fears and hopes and everything laid out on the table for dissecting. He hadn't looked at her like that for years, in fact, remembering the last time he had looked at her in such a way nearly reduced her to tears. It had been just before he had been dragged into Hell by the hounds. It was a look of absolute pure, raw fear and utter hopelessness.

"But?" her voice was barely audible.

"But I know what happens when we get you there. I know what we have to give up," he shook his head and focused back on the floor, "I know what this will mean for Sammy and me, and I'm telling you right now. We aren't ready for that. No way."

Zoe wrapped her arms across her chest, her blue eyes wide as stared at the floor. Washington held all kinds of uncertainty and apprehension for all of them, she just hadn't been thinking of it though. If she were to be honest with herself, she was doing everything in her power to avoid thinking of it.

"I can't lose you guys," he shook his head and raised his eyes to meet hers, a thin film threatening the edges of his fearsome stare. "I won't lose you guys."

Before Zoe had a chance to respond Sam was leaning around the corner telling them that they were ready to go, and just like that, like every time before, life got in the way all over again.