Chapter 4: Knocking on Heavens Door
Annie crouched low, her breath shallow. She could see the bunker in the distance. For a passerby it was well hidden, the entrance barely visible.
Annie picked herself up and stumbled forwards. She gripped her knife in her working hand and made her way over to the entrance. The bunker had to be locked tight, but she had dealt with security systems before. She just had to get inside.
She reached the hidden entrance at the side of the bunker and crouched down, assessing the lock. There was a small security panel near the ground—likely an old system, nothing fancy. She could handle it. With her good hand, she dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out the lock-picking kit she always carried.
The lock clicked, but it wasn't the usual smooth motion. The lock clicked once more, and the panel hissed open.
"Yes," she muttered to herself under her breath.
The door to the bunker was heavy. With her good arm, she held onto the wall for support, using it to guide her into the depths inside. She had no idea who owned this place, and she didn't care. Inside she barely made it two more steps before she collapsed against a nearby wall. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her heart pounding in her chest.
Annie manages to pull herself to her feet. Her vision blurs and her breaths grow shallow. Up ahead a door stood ajar, and Annie stumbled towards it. Inside she finds herself in a room full of first aid supplies. The smell of antiseptic hung in the air and for a split second a smile appeared on Annies's face. Annie reaches out to a chair in front of her, but she slips, and the sound of the metal chair skids across the concrete floor. She reaches for a roll of gauze and antiseptic and with shaking hands manages to twist off the lid and douses her wounds. The pain brings up vomit and Annie has to steady herself on the chair in front of her. She needed to stop the bleeding, needed to patch herself up, but the blood was too much. She could feel it, warm and sticky, soaking through the fabric of her shirt.
The sharp pain in her shoulder made her dizzy, or maybe it was the blood loss. She couldn't tell anymore.
Suddenly, she heard it. A faint click, then, cold steel pressed against the back of her head.
"Turn around," a voice commanded, low and steady.
Annie froze. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she didn't need to be told twice. The voice had a sharp edge to it, like someone who wasn't afraid to use the gun they were holding.
She slowly twisted her body, her vision still unfocused, but through the haze, she saw the figure standing there.
Dean Winchester.
Her heart skipped, but she had no time to register his face fully. The room tilted. Her knees buckled and everything went black.
She had come so close. And then, there was nothing.