CHAPTER 2

Dean was pacing back and forth when Cas returned to the motel room. He paused for a moment in the doorway, and as he watched, Dean snapped "Shit", practically screaming the curse toward the Heavens, then threw the phone across the room, where it luckily slammed into the pillows of their bed without breaking.

"Ash was not about to find anything?" Cas asked, finally stepping fully into the room and carefully closing the door behind him.

"What do you think?" Dean snapped, and shook his head. "You got it?"

"Yes," Cas said, hurrying over to the table and producing the maps that he had bought from the nearest store. Dean carried plenty of road maps in the glove compartment of the Impala, but all of them were only for a single state, and none of them showed any location outside the United States. And while they both hoped that Sam would be somewhere nearby, they knew that there was no guarantee. A map of the entire world was necessary, which was why Cas had needed to run – quite literally run – to the nearest store that sold what they needed. Dean had stayed behind to make calls, though looking at him now, Cas couldn't help but wonder if it would have been better for Dean to accompany him. At least then, Dean could have felt as though he was doing something productive.

There wasn't time to talk about that now, so instead, Cas drew the large world map from the bag and unrolled it. It was too big to fit on the table – the nearest store had happened to be one which stocked teaching supplies, and as such, the first map that he'd seen had been a large one intended to be hung on classroom walls. So instead, Cas spread it across the floor and drew the matches from his pocket. Part of him cared enough to hope that the flame would not damage the carpet, though if it did, then there was really nothing that they could do about that.

Cas was about to start the chant, when Dean reached over and grabbed his wrist. "Start with the other map," he said.

Cas frowned, but Dean just looked away, not saying anything more or explaining himself in any way, and slowly, Cas nodded. The map of the USA was smaller, and Dean already had it spread across the table, so Cas just had to step over and he was facing it.

He thought that he understood. Dean feared flying – Cas remembered that from the stories that Sam had told the first night that they had gone out drinking together. Of course Dean would be hopeful that Sam would be somewhere within driving distance, not anywhere where they would have to take a plane.

There was more to it, though, Cas was certain. Mainly, the question of what they would do if the map burned completely, and didn't leave a scrap of paper behind. If the map of the US left behind nothing but ash, then at least they would still be able to try another map, hold onto hope that Sam could be hidden away in some other country. If the world map turned to nothing, there would be no other explanation except that Sam was no longer on Earth, and wherever he was – either Heaven or Hell – it would not be good for him.

Cas couldn't fault Dean for not being ready to face that possibility. Cas was not ready for it himself.

Dean wasn't watching him anymore. He'd turned his back on the map, and had his eyes squeezed shut. He used one hand to massage his forehead, hard enough that it looked as though he were trying to tear the skin from his face. Cas frowned, and stepped toward him, laying one hand on Dean's back. "How bad are the hallucinations?" he asked in a low voice.

Dean sucked in a sharp breath, then shook his head. From that denial alone, Cas knew that he had been correct, and that they were bad – possibly the worst that he had experienced, if the paleness of his face or the tightness of his stance were anything to go by.

And Dean must have realized that Cas already knew, because the denial that Cas had expected never came. Instead, Dean just bowed his head more. "It doesn't matter," he said. "Do the spell."

Cas hesitated, then nodded and turned away. Nothing would be able to stop the hallucinations so long as Dean was still terrified, and nothing could stop his terror except Sam's safe return. Saving Sam would be the only thing that could help Dean now.

So Cas turned back to the map and lit the match, hurrying through the words of the spell. They came even easier to him now than they had when he had first spoken them, searching for Dean all those months ago. He didn't have to give the words any thought, just allowed them to roll from his lips as simple as breathing. It was only a few seconds, and then he was dropping the match, and stepping back to avoid being caught in the flames as they flared up in front of him.

The flames lasted for at least thirty seconds, perhaps longer. Long enough for Dean to turn around and snap, "What's the hold up?" His voice trailed off when he caught sight of the flames, still stretching two feet above the tabletop, burning far more steadily than they should. "What-?" he began.

Dean barely managed to finish speaking the word, and then the flame died away as quickly as it had flared up initially. In its wake, it left behind the map of the United States, just as pristine as it had been before the spell had begun.

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean demanded, spinning around to face Cas, looking like he was only seconds away from grabbing Cas' shoulders and shaking the answers from him.

Cas swallowed. "Interference," he said. "Whoever took Sam, they must have spells in place to prevent us from finding him."

"And who do you think did take him?" Dean demanded. "Azazel? Angels? Hell, another psychopath like Gordon?"

"I don't know," Cas admitted slowly. "Likely an angel or a demon. It takes power to successfully summon a human – much more power than it would take to summon a demon. Most humans couldn't do it – though I suppose a witch could manage it, if they were significantly powerful."

"So we've got nothing," Dean said, and Cas frowned, but was forced to nod. Dean growled, and turned away. "Great. Fucking awesome. How the hell are we supposed to find my brother now?"

Cas bowed his head. He knew that Dean had asked the question rhetorically, and did not expect Cas to respond, but he felt the need to give an answer, regardless. "We will find a way," he promised, quiet enough that he almost wasn't sure if Dean would be able to hear him, despite the fact that they were only a few feet apart. He cleared his throat, and said in a louder voice, "We will bring your brother home, Dean. I can promise you that."

Dean didn't turn toward him, or even move at all. "Oh yeah?" he said. "How?"

This time, Cas could do nothing but hold his silence.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Dean said, then shook his head. "We're not giving up. We're going to find something, and we're gonna ride in and save Sammy's ass, you got that? We're gonna find something to do."

"Exactly," Cas said. He didn't offer any suggestions as to how, and neither did Dean.

But there had to be something that could be done. There had to be. And whatever it was, they weren't going to rest until they found it.

Cas just hoped that it would be in time.

Jake and Sam both filled their guns with salt rounds before they left, creating them using the supplies that had been found when they'd first entered this house. There were plenty of other guns, enough that Ava and Lily could take one of their own, but both of them shook their heads when offered. "I don't know how to shoot one," Ava admitted, biting her lip and looking a little embarrassed.

Sam nodded, and pulled his iron knife from his pocket, holding it out to her. "Here," he said, and when she didn't immediately move to take it, he grabbed her hand and curled it around the handle of the knife. It was one of his longer ones, long enough to give her a reasonably good reach, and would hurt well enough if she sunk it into a demon's skin. "Be careful," he warned her. "It won't be able to kill a demon, but some demons are possessing the bodies of innocent people, and you can hurt the victim. Don't aim for a fatal wound – it's not going to do any good. But stabbing them in the arm or shoulder should be enough to force them into retreating, or even make them smoke out if they're weak enough."

Her eyes were wide, and he could definitely tell that she was having second thoughts. He almost expected her to back out completely. Instead, she tightened her grip on the knife, and nodded. "Got it," she said. Her voice was small, but it didn't waver. "Aim for the shoulders. I can do that."

"Unless it's an Acheri demon – one of the ones that look like a demonic child," he amended. "Those, you can aim for wherever you want."

"Aim anywhere. Got it," she said. Her voice was even smaller now, but she still wasn't backing down.

He nodded, and turned toward Lily. He only had one iron knife, and they hadn't found anything else iron in the supplies in the house, so he wasn't sure what to offer her. She came up with a solution on her own for that one.

"Figured this will work well enough," she said, grabbing a fire poker that had been leaning against the wall by the fireplace. "Bash them through with this, and they're not going to be a problem anymore."

"Good idea," Sam agreed, then glanced around at all three of them. This was the last chance for anyone to change their mind, but by now, he was pretty sure that none of them were going to. And he was right – all of them stared right back at him, meeting his eyes without flinching. Sam hesitated for just another moment, giving them a couple last seconds to change their mind. Then finally, he nodded. "Alright," he said. "Let's go."

They fell into formation as soon as they were outside. "I've been around most of the town looking for survivors, I think," Jake said, stepping up to take the lead. "There could still be people I've missed, but we'll have better luck in the places that I haven't been yet, probably."

"Got it," Sam said, slowing his steps to allow the other to walk in front of him. If Jake was going to lead the way, then Sam planned on taking up the rear, making sure that nothing snuck up and grabbed them from behind. Ava and Lily fell into step directly behind Jake, walking side-by-side, watching their left and their right sides as they headed down the streets.

"You okay, Sam?" Ava asked after they'd been walking for a couple minutes. He frowned, and she amended, "You're limping."

"Oh, right," he said, glancing down. He still only had one shoe on, and by now, he'd figured out to compensate for the height difference that his one shoe created, to the point that he barely noticed he was doing it. "I'm fine," he said. Sure, walking like this wasn't the best idea in the world, and it was definitely a giant pain, but he figured it was better than going completely shoeless. This way he had one foot protected, at least.

"You'd better be okay," Jake said. "You're not going to make it long if you're not."

Sam scowled. "I'm fine," he said sharply. Jake just shrugged, and after a moment, Sam sped up, just enough to bring him closer to the group. "What do you mean, I won't survive long?"

"I mean that I've seen plenty of fighting, even before we got here," Jake said simply, and Sam nodded - he'd guessed that much by the army uniform. "And I mean that if you go in with any sort of handicap, then you're probably not going to be coming out. Trust me, man, I've seen what those demon things can do to people. You don't want to be dealing with them when you're at your best, let alone when you're at a disadvantage."

Okay, that much, Sam could definitely understand. He'd gone on enough hunts to know exactly what Jake meant. "Don't worry," he said. "I've fought them before."

"Did you win?" Ava asked.

"I'm still here," Sam said, and Ava nodded, accepting that as answer enough.

Jake, though, shook his head. "You didn't see these things like I did," he said, voice low. "They tore people apart like it was nothing." As if to prove his point, they turned a corner, and suddenly there was a corpse lying at their feet. Sam swallowed and looked away, but not before he'd seen who it was - not anyone that he'd recognized, but a girl with blue hair spiked above her head, and dark skin turned red with blood.

Jake stopped walking. "That girl," he said, gesturing toward her with the gun. "I was there for that one. She never stood a chance."

Ava made a pained sound, and turned away, clutching her knife tighter, holding it almost like it was a security blanket instead of a weapon. Lily shifted her grip on her poker. "Let's just keep going," she said, voice harsh.

Jake nodded, and started up again. The others followed close behind, giving wide berth to the body. Sam tried to ignore the squish of something wet beneath his foot, and very deliberately didn't look down to see what he had stepped in. He knew that it was blood.

"I swear," Jake said, "it's been an hour, probably not much more than that, and I already feel like I've here for an eternity."

"We'll get out of here," Sam promised.

Jake snorted. "Not likely," he said.

"We will," Ava insisted, her voice fierce. "I don't know about you, but I'm leaving here and getting back to Brady. I'm not going to let this place kill me, no matter what it takes."

Jake opened his mouth, then immediately closed it and nodded. "You're right," he said after a long pause. "Like Sam said, we're going to figure out how to kill this demon and get everyone else out of here, then we can all head home."

"Exactly," Ava said, and returned to keeping a lookout toward their left. "Brady's got to be looking for me. I have to find him and tell him that I'm okay."

They kept walking. "More bodies down this way," Jake warned. "There's less once we get out of the center of town."

Sam nodded, and braced himself. Or, he thought that he'd braced himself, or that he'd be able to keep going and ignore them. He'd seen death before, way more often than he wanted to think about. It was sad, but it happened, and it was one of those things that you'd better get used to, or else you weren't going to make it long as a hunter.

Still, when you were stepping over bodies that were sprawled in the road every few feet, it was hard not to let it get to you.

Sam breathed in hard through his teeth – he knew better than to breathe through his nose, and risk never being able to get the smell out of his head. Jake did the same, and kept walking with a single-minded determination. Lily didn't waver either, though Sam could see the slight trembling of her shoulders that said that she was terrified. Ava made a soft whining noise, then coughed hard, reaching up to cover her nose with one hand. "God," she whispered, then nothing else.

"The clock tower is the worst," Jake warned.

He'd been right.

A dozen bodies. That's how many Sam estimated were lying directly outside the clock tower, scattered like broken dolls tossed to the side. Possibly more than that. It was hard to tell, with the way that they were piled on top of each other, and the fact that he didn't want to look at them long enough to figure out for sure. Arms bent at unnatural angles, heads bashed open, people who died clawing at their throats like they were trying to rip themselves free from some unseen force. But mostly, it was holes – in chests, in stomachs, in throats. Even after hunting for years, Sam was certain that he had never seen this much blood at once.

"What happened here?" Lily asked, her voice quiet, subdued.

"I don't know," Jake said, "but we don't want to stick around longer than we have to."

Even so, for a moment they all just stood frozen. Sam was used to these kinds of things, and he was used to forcing himself not to be bothered by them but even he felt like he was too dumbstruck to move.

"Why are we even out here looking for survivors, if there are so many dead here?" Ava asked, her voice barely rising above a whisper. "There's not that many of us, are there? How could there be anyone else left alive?"

"There could be," Sam said quickly. "We don't know the exact number of us, there could be more of us out there. Even if it's just two or three people, we're still going to find them, and we're going to bring them back safely."

"Yeah," Jake added, speaking up after just a second's too long of a pause. He cleared his throat, and repeated, "Yeah. Yeah, what Sam said. There's gotta be someone else, right?"

"I guess," Ava said. She didn't sound convinced.

"And even if there's not," Jake said after another moment, "we're going to need a lot more weapons if we're going to go demon fighting. And people are going to start getting hungry quick. We should scavenge for supplies while we're at it. Obviously people come first, though." Jake added the last part quickly, as though he were just tacking it on because he had to, not because he really believed it.

Either that, or he didn't really believe that there were going to be people left to find.

They moved fast after that – as fast as they could when they had to be careful to avoid bodies, and when the ground was so slick with blood that they didn't dare run, because they knew that if they did, they'd be likely to slip and fall. There was no way to avoid it all, no matter where they walked.

Finally, though, they were through the clearing that surrounded the bell tower, and back heading down one of the side roads. This one was clear, no bodes whatsoever. Ava breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

The other three kept walking, but Sam hesitated, and turned back. The bell tower was the tallest building, and it was still easy to see it, even from down the street. There was an engraving of some sort of tree along the side of the bell, and he couldn't stop staring at him. He knew it from somewhere, he was sure that he did, but he just couldn't figure out-

"You coming?" Lily asked, and Sam quickly turned around and nodded, quickening his steps to catch back up to the group.

There was something about that bell, though. He was sure that there was. He just needed to figure out what it was.

They'd only walked for maybe five more minutes before Jake stopped them. "As far as I know, nobody has been down this street," Jake said, gesturing out in front of him, "and there are a ton of buildings where people could be hiding out."

"Let's go, then," Ava urged. She was looking much less eager to be a part of this than she had been when they'd been back at the base, though she hadn't said anything about going back. Although, that could be because she knew that it wasn't an option - there was no way that they could risk anyone being on their own. She was stuck out here with them whether she liked it or not.

They all headed into the closest house. "Split up," Jake said. "It'll go faster. And remember, we're not just here for the people. Grab some bags if you can find them, start loading up on anything useful."

Sam hesitated, then nodded. "The second you even think that you see something, scream," he said. "I don't care if it ends up being a false alarm, that's better than something getting you before you can call for help."

Ava looked uncertain, but Lily nodded almost immediately, and took off into the next room without even glancing back. Sam watched her go, then turned and started up the staircase. This was one of the few buildings with two floors, and he figured that they'd be better off checking the top floor quick, to make sure that nothing was lurking up there, waiting.

The second floor wasn't big. It only took a minute to go through it. He stepped into the last room, and came face-to-face with Jake. "Oh," Sam said, and stepped back away from him. "You're searching up here, too?"

Jake glanced at him, and didn't answer. "Doesn't look to be anything," he said instead. "No weapons, no people, no demons."

Sam nodded. "And no signs of trouble from downstairs, so it sounds like Lily and Ava haven't found anything, either," he agreed, though he figured that they should go downstairs to check, just to be safe. So he started for the staircase, with Jake falling into step behind him.

"You did good, you know," Jake said out of nowhere. "Keeping the others calm, I mean. That's a good idea."

"Thanks," Sam said, then glanced over his shoulder to look at Jake's face for a second. "You don't think that we're going to get out of here." He didn't make it a question.

Jake shrugged. "I think that Ava's right, and I'm going to do absolutely anything that it takes to get back to my family," he said. "But that doesn't mean that I think it's going to actually happen, and I don't think that you do, either."

Sam stopped walking, turning to face Jake.

Jake kept talking. "I can tell you've seen shit," he said. "You've got that look in your eye. That's how I know that you're not nearly as confident as you're trying to convince the others that you are. You know that the odds are against us."

"Doesn't mean I'm going to give up," Sam said. "I've seen people pull through worse." Hell, Dean had had demons on his tail just a little more than a week ago, busting into their motel to drag his soul to Hell. If Dean could manage to get away from the hounds that time, then Sam was going to make it out of this.

"Never said that it did," Jake said, and shrugged again. "Just means that you're smart enough to know how this looks. You don't expect a miracle."

Sam shook his head. "That's where you're wrong," he said. "I've seen miracles before. They can happen. Hell, they've happened to me before. I'm not counting them out."

Jake stared at him for a long time.

"If you actually believe that," he said slowly, not taking his eyes off of Sam's, "then you're more naive than the rest of the group." He shook his head, then nodded toward the staircase. "Let's head back down," he said, then added, "And, you know, you're right about keeping the others calm. That's a good idea, and honestly, I don't care if you're doing it because you really believe or if you're just putting on a front. Either way, it keeps people from panicking, and that's a good thing in my book."

"No sense freaking them out," Sam said. "Not any more than we have to."

"Yeah," Jake agreed, and started walking again.

This time, they made it to the top of the staircase before Jake stopped, and looked at Sam again. "Hey Sam," he said, "what do you think about what the demon – Azazel?" Sam nodded, and Jake continued, "Did Azazel talk to you, back when you were first taken here? Before you woke up?"

"Yeah," Sam said slowly, and hesitated, but finally said, "He told me that only one of us was going to make it out of here. Said that there could only be one survivor."

Jake nodded. "Told me the same thing," he said.

Something about the way that Jake said that was off, and Sam suddenly narrowed his eyes. His gun was still in his hands – no way was Sam going to put it away, not until they were out of here and somewhere safe – but now, he shifted his hand so that one finger was on the trigger. "What are you thinking?" Sam asked. "You believe him."

"Of course I do," Jake said, and Sam stiffened, ready to bring his gun up and shoot at the first sign that Jake was going to make a move. After all, Jake had already gotten him at gunpoint once. Sam didn't intend to let him do it again.

Jake, though, quickly shook his head. "I know that Azazel meant what he said, at least," he amended. "And you might have some crazy plan to kill him, but I don't have a whole lot of faith in that working, no offense." He paused then, and then slowly added, "Doesn't mean that I'm going to give in and do what this demon wants. After watching how many people he's killed, I'd rather die than give the bastard what he wants."

"Okay," Sam said, though he didn't relax his grip, or take his finger from the trigger.

"I take it you're not going to do what Azazel wants, either?" Jake asked.

"No," Sam said, his voice sharp. "I can promise you, that's the one thing I'm never going to do. We're going to find a way to kill him, no matter what it takes."

Jake snorted, and when he spoke again, his voice was almost mocking. "That's right," he said. "You're holding out for a miracle. Good luck with that." He scoffed for another moment, then turned and led the way down the stairs, though Sam did notice that he glanced over his shoulder ever couple seconds, like he didn't quite trust Sam not to shoot him while his back was turned.

Sam hesitated, then moved his finger off the trigger, though he was still ready to shoot in a split second, if he had to. He just hoped that Jake wasn't going to give him a reason to do it.

It did get him thinking, though. About the last miracle that'd come true for them. Or, Sam guessed that there were quite a lot of them, depending on what exactly you classified as "miraculous". But specifically, Sam was thinking about the way that Dean had been lying broken and brain dead in that hospital bed just over two months ago, and the white light that had come down to fix him.

It had been Cas, that time. And things might be different now – Cas didn't have his full powers, for one – but even so, Sam was pretty sure that if they were going to get another miracle, Cas would be the one most likely to deliver it.

"Hey, Cas," Sam said, his lips barely moving, and he definitely didn't say it loud – this wasn't something that he wanted anyone to overhear, and he wasn't going to run that risk, even if Jake was all the way downstairs by now. "Angels can hear prayers, right? I'm sending this one straight to you, then. Think that you and Dean could come help me out?"

He waited a moment, not saying anything more. The words felt awkward on his lips, even though he'd been praying every day for years. He was out of practice now. It'd only been a little more than a week since Cas had warned him that praying could allow the angels to track him down, but Sam had stopped praying before then, back when Dean's deal had come due. Maybe finding out that the hellhounds were after Dean's ass should have made Sam start praying harder, asking God to save his brother or whatever. But honestly, after figuring out that Dean had been forced to do something like that, and that whoever was upstairs was going to let him rot in Hell for the rest of eternity, and watching Dean suffer the hallucinations that looked like they were tearing his mind apart – well, Sam hadn't exactly been feeling very faithful.

Eleven days since he had stopped praying, and already, Sam was feeling like he didn't quite remember how.

Still, though, he made himself keep talking. "You said that if I pray directly to you, then you'll be the only to hear me, right, Cas?" Sam asked, then shrugged. "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter either way. If the angels and demons are teaming up, then they already know where I am, anyway, so this isn't going to hurt anything. But I'm in an abandoned town somewhere. Not sure where, but it hasn't been touched in forever, that much is obvious. Sorry that it's not more to work with."

It was like he was in Dean's hospital room all over again, talking to his brother even when he was convinced that nobody could hear him. This time, though, at least he had reason to think that Cas could he hearing him right now. He hadn't had that last time.

He tried to think if there was anything else that he should say, just on the off chance that he didn't last long enough for Cas and Dean to find him – which, if he was being honest, wasn't looking like it was so unlikely, after all. He swallowed, and finally settled on, "Take care of my brother, okay? Don't let Azazel find him while you're tracking me down. And if anything happens to me-" He shook his head, and decided that he didn't have to finish that request. He didn't even know why he was asking. Cas would make sure that Dean was okay, whether Sam asked him to or not.

Instead, Sam just took a deep breath. "Thanks, Cas," he said. He paused for just one moment longer, waiting for a sign that he knew wasn't going to come, then nodded to himself before heading down to rejoin the others.