Chapter two of the sequel! Woo!
Fandom: Supernatural / Resident Evil, with some traps that I ganked from Saw.
Title: Cat and Mouse
Rating: Well, there's graphic violence and possible future smut, so I'll go with a safe NC17.
Author: Lizi
Pairing: Dean/OFC, Sam/OFC (mostly Dean/OFC centric this time around)
Warnings/Spoilers: If you're up to date on the show, you should be spoiler free (plus, the fact that I'm a recently hooked Supernatural fan, so Wikipedia has been my friend when it came to this fic). As for warnings, there's gratuitous violence and Resident Evil style gore. And cursing. And smut. I'm a bad girl. =P
Author's Note: The follow up to my original story, Project Mayhem. All character are still around, plus I'll add a couple in later.
Words: 3,801
Summary: Dean and Raina meet up, and Sam and Anna get into some trouble…
For Raina and Dean, being all but alone, aside from Jessi, in a town as wide open as Townsend, Montana and finding one another may have been an impossible task. Unfortunately, that daunting a task wasn't quite daunting enough for Cathryn Lavalee's taste. She called her new apprentice, Ezekiel Grizwald, and asked him to run to the center of town, to steal Dean's car while his back was turned, and prevent Anna and Sam from getting to Townsend, by any means necessary.
Ezekiel, a man in his early-to-mid thirties, had been a lonely man before Cathryn came along. He'd tinkered in his basement, creating chemicals and other experiments that were right up Cathryn's alley. She'd found him via an internet search. He'd been imprisoned for creating a noxious gas that had been uncharted and killed half of his coworkers at a chemical plant in New York City. She paid off the judge at his trial to have him released to Umbrella care, and he was now her new lackie. This time, she knew she had done right, because unlike Jessica, this man had no conscience. He hadn't even apologized for killing his coworkers. Simply called it a work related accident and left it be.
Yes, Raina, Dean, Anna, Sam and Jessica were in for a much greater adventure this time. And I don't think any of them had the slightest idea what they were getting themselves into...
Dean turned down an alleyway, convinced that he'd heard a sound coming from that direction. So, he followed his gut and rushed down the alley, only to find that it was a dead-end, and there was nothing but garbage there. He sighed sadly. There were a pair of dead rottweilers and a dead alley cat laying on the ground, their fur and flesh rotting off. That must have been a side effect of whatever drug Umbrella was using to kill people or animals. Or whatever they killed. He could see Sam now, shedding tears for the fallen animals and giving them a little funeral. He chuckled and turned around, starting back down the alley, only to hear one of the dogs begin to growl once he got three or four steps away. Wait, hadn't they been dead? He turned his head and his eyes widened, when one of the dog that he'd thought to be dead stood up. And the other quickly followed. He whirled around and aimed his gun at them. But they weren't stopping. No, they charged straight at him and tried to pounce him...but he fired quick enough, and the first one fell back to the ground. The second lunged at him, and he moved out of the way, then shot at it, knocking it to the ground, then shooting it once again, killing it. "Holy shit, that was insane..." he whispered.
Ezekiel had been commanded by Cathryn to get the '67 Impala from the center of town. Fortunately, he'd learned how to hotwire in his nice little stint running from the law, so he made his way to the town center, catching sight of the Impala, parked a dozen or so feet away from the fountain. Beautiful car, really. He nodded and opened the door. The guy hadn't locked his door? As if someone with a '67 Impala wouldn't lock their door. Not any worthy owner, anyway. Ezekiel would take better care of it. He nodded and looked at the ignition. Could this get any easier? The keychain hung from the ignition, key inserted, as if it were ready for him to steal. "Wow. You really are an idiot, Winchester..." he quipped as he started the car and peeled off, toward where Cathryn had told him to go.
Dean heard a vehicle screeching down the street, and his eyebrows immediately went up. He ran out to the main road, just in time to see his car crossing back over the border to Townsend. "Hey! Hey wait!" he took off in a dead sprint down the rain covered street, eventually slowing down and coming to a stop. "Fuck..." he turned and punched the closest thing to him, realizing all too quickly that it wasn't a wise plan, when his fist connected with a metal lamp post. "Ow!" he shouted, shaking his hand back and forth and whimpering in pain. "Yeah, this was a brilliant idea, Winchester. Drive yourself out to the middle of nowhere, alone, to look for a woman that you're not even sure is here? Maybe Sam was right..." he started toward the border to the town, to catch the first ride out of Montana.
A little late, but at least he was there. David Petersen got out of his Jeep and watched as the rest of the biohazard team arrived to guard the town border. He stepped out of his car and looked around, just in time to see a young man running toward the border. He didn't look like one of those creatures, but just to be safe, he raised his gun and aimed it at him. "No one is allowed to exit the town lines, kid. No one is allowed in or out. Under any circumstances. Sorry, but it looks like you're stuck here. Now turn around because I don't want me or my people to catch whatever it is you're carrying."
Dean glowered at the man who was standing between he and his only exit. "What?" his jaw dropped, and he huffed out a huge sigh. So, he had to find an alternate way out here, that was all that meant. Because there was no way in hell that he was going to stick around this hellhole until he got eaten by a zombie or whatever. That was fine. "I thought you guys were supposed to defend the people..." he grumped as he headed back toward the center of town. This had been a massive waste of time. So far, all he'd gotten from the trip to find Raina was a disappearing car. He half-smiled. At least the rain was letting up. But, no sooner had he thought that then the rain started up once again, this time almost like the ground was taking a shower. The raindrops were huge. He looked around for anything that seemed like a way to get out, only to see a helicopter take off from a facility on the other side of town. "Heliport, huh? Well, that's where I want to be, then..." he nodded as he started off in that direction.
Raina started down a back street, through a dark alleyway, and raised an eyebrow when she heard what seemed to be a legion of vehicles coming in the distance. "What the..." she raised an eyebrow as she followed the sound, only to see a couple of the bodies that had been laying on the ground standing up. "For the love of all things..." she rolled her eyes, realizing suddenly that she was alone in front of over 100 zombies. She swallowed hard. So, this was how it was going to end, huh? She swallowed hard. Well, she wouldn't go out without a fight. She went into fighting stance and kicked at the zombie closest to her, watching as it fell over and the head rolled about three feet from the body. "Whoa..." she whispered. "What the..." she closed her fist and punched at another zombie, watching as it fell to it's knees, then to the floor. "Wh...what the hell? I..." she ran a hand through her hair and raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Dean heard someone around the other side of the alley and cocked an eyebrow up. "What the..." he made his way toward the sound, and leaned against the wall, readying his gun and looking off to the side that the sounds were coming from. That silhouette...that figure--that long, curly hair...it couldn't be. Could it? It couldn't be this simple. He watched as a zombie approached her from where she couldn't see, then aimed and fired at it, taking it down from a safe distance, then rushing out to the center of the action...
Raina heard the gunshot, then whirled around and looked in the direction that it came from. No. No way it could be...she gasped and shoved through a group of zombies, running at the figure, and when he came into clear view, she almost leapt up and threw her arms around him. "Dean! Oh my God!" she felt his arms wrap around her and she pulled back from the hug to look at him, her eyes welling up. Thankfully, the rain masked it. She pulled back from the hug and looked into his eyes. "Is...is it really you? Did you...what are you doing in Montana?"
Dean hugged Raina tightly to him, until she retreated a little, then he simply looked at her, his eyes ecstatic, and his lips curling up into a smile. "It's really me..." he moved a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes, out of the way. He chuckled when she asked what he was doing in Montana, and shrugged his shoulder, smiling a little. "I came to look for you. I heard about the 'radiation leak' and heard the name Umbrella. And I just got this feeling in my gut that you were here. I knew you didn't die! Sam and Anna though you did!" he pulled her to him again, then closed his eyes, relishing this moment. "I wasn't going to give up until I found you, though. I knew. I knew!" he opened his eyes and looked over her shoulder, noticing that the zombies that had been surrounding Raina before were heading their way. "We need to find some place to hide out. Or just a way out of town..." he nodded over his shoulder and started to turn around.
Raina fought the urge to lean into Dean's touch when he moved her hair from her face, but rapidly found herself losing the fight. Her heart filled up when he told her that he came to find her, and she was tempted to kiss him. But as he continued to speak, her heart sank again. She looked at the ground. "They didn't want to come find me?" she asked. Her best friend and partner for four years wasn't even hopeful enough to come and find her. Well, part of her understood. She'd been in a building, seconds from when it had exploded, after all. She wouldn't think that anyone could survive that, either. But Dean...had kept the faith and knew that she was alive...and came to find her. She was a second away from kissing him, when he suggested that they get out of that area. She nodded and followed him to the road, but she raised an eyebrow and looked toward the border. "Why can't we just leave? I mean, where's the Impala?"
Dean sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea," he chuckled a little and looked toward the border. "Someone stole it. And we can't leave because there's a jackass of a border patrol type guy making sure that no one leaves..." he shook his head. "I'm willing to bet that Umbrella paid them off, or something like that," he rolled his eyes. He looked around for somewhere for them to hide out. "Maybe we can hide out in that mill there..." he nodded his head toward a mill that overlooked a dam. They must have been on the abandoned side of town, because not many of the buildings that surrounded them had windows. But the mill they were about to go into was one of the only ones that did. Dean led Raina to the door, and tried to open it, but when he realized that it was locked, he looked to Raina for any kind of idea.
Raina sighed. Someone stole Dean's Impala? She grumbled about the idea of some Umbrella agent driving such a beautiful car...plus that it was Dean's car. Her face fell even farther when he spoke of the guard at the town line. "Fantastic...so we're stranded in this freaking abandoned town until we're zombie chow or we find an alternate way out...life is wonderful, you know that?" she rolled her eyes and followed Dean when he headed toward an abandoned mill. But when he pulled on the door and it didn't open, she looked around some more, for another way in. Up on a higher level, up the stairs of the fire escape, there was a weak, old metal door that could probably be broken open, and when she pointed it out, Dean nodded. Sure, zombies could climb stairs, but it gave them more time to prepare themselves before they became chow. Plus, the stairs were broken at a point about six feet from the ground.
Dean let Raina climb up the odd lattice on the side of the building, then followed her lead, making his way up as the zombies started to get closer. Her feet touched the steps, and she reached an arm out to help him, bringing a smile to his face. "Thanks, Raina..." he took her hand and jumped from the lattice to the last step before they broke off. They walked up the remaining steps and Dean turned the door handle. Locked again. "Jesus Christ, there are no teenage vandals in Montana, to break in and unlock doors for us? What are they, all peppy, super religious, neo-conservative, goat fuckers or something?" he turned around and looked down at the zombies on the ground. "I don't even see any vandalism! It's like Umbrella controlled the whole town!" he looked at Raina, who seemed amused. "What?" he raised an eyebrow. Had he said something that funny?
Raina looked up from using the scalpel that Jessi had used to unlock her handcuffs, to try and unlock the door, at Dean. "Peppy, super-religious, neo-conservative, goat fuckers?" she burst out laughing. "Last thing I checked, no vandalism is a good thing..." she smiled. Yes, she really missed him. They'd only spent a small amount of time together the first time they met, but she had missed him like crazy. She was having difficulty with the door, so she backed up and prepared to kick the doorknob in, when a zombie fell from the roof, down to their tiny area. She jumped. "Holy shit!" she yelled, hauling back and kicking the zombie down over the railing, to the ground with all his brethren. Whatever they'd done to her was helping her out at the moment.
Dean stared in shock as Raina knocked the zombie over the edge with one kick. He glanced at the ground as it stood back up and walked over to the wall beneath them, clawing at it and trying to climb up. Probably hoping for some lunch. "Holy shit!" he shouted as he looked back at Raina. "One kick, and you send a zombie flying over the edge? I'm impressed..." he chuckled lightly. Neither of them had any idea what was going on in Raina's body, though. Muscles doubled in strength, without growing, and the Nephthys virus was bonding with her cells, to the point that there was no reverse. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten her to the new facility, because there would have been brainwashing--and she would have been, well, evil, for lack of a better word.
Raina smiled and shrugged, though a bit of concern showed through in her eyes. "I know. I think Umbrella did something to me, actually..." she bit her lower lip. "I mean, I don't feel any different, but..." she decided to demonstrate the extent of what she could do, by hauling back to kick the door to the mill in. "Now, I can do that..." she sighed as the door flew open. She looked nervously at Dean. "I mean..." she looked down at herself. "I don't look any different, but I feel...really strong. And a lot smarter, too," she hoped that Dean wasn't freaked out, and she sighed deeply. "If you don't want me around anymore, I'll understand...I mean, it's hard telling what Umbrella did to me..."
When Raina told him that she didn't know what Umbrella had done to her, his hatred for the damned corporation increased tenfold, at the least. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed a little. He'd flip out and hunt them down if they'd harmed her too much. Sure, she looked normal, and this strength thing was kind of hot, but who knew what was going on in her bloodstream and muscles and all that? He shook his head, put his arm around her shoulders and led her into the safety and dryness of the old mill. "I'm not going to leave you behind, Raina. Like someone once told me, a good zombie hunter never travels alone. I am a zombie hunter now, after all..." he winked and ran his hand through her wet hair. "Plus, I didn't go over a thousand miles just to get here and leave you behind..."
Raina took a second to study Dean's face, making sure that he wasn't just saying that. She smiled. Dean was unlike anyone she'd ever known before. Even her former partner had left her behind. But not Dean. He'd actually driven over a thousand miles, on a hunch, to a place that he wasn't even a hundred percent that she was in, just to find her? She couldn't say that anyone had done that before, and it filled her heart up. "Thank you, Dean...really..." she felt her eyes well up, but rather than spaz out and cry, she simply put her arms around him and swallowed hard, trying not to combust with tears against his shoulder. "Shall we...move on?" she asked as she nodded her head down the hallway, toward a door at the end. Never, ever in her life had she been so grateful for someone. There was nothing at all that she wouldn't do for him.
~*~
Anna pulled over at a gas station, smiling a bit when she saw a sign on the side of the road, which said 'Townsend, 25 MI.' Good. They were at the latter end of their journey. Meaning when they got to the dead town, she could grab Dean by the shoulders, shake him and tell him that Raina was dead. It pained her. Really, it did. She wasn't trying to be callous. But Dean was going crazy with his 'she isn't dead' suspicions. She looked into the store window, at Sam, who was inside getting each of them something to eat and drink. She smiled gratefully. He'd kept her sane through losing her best friend. There weren't many people who could have done that. She was beginning to fall in love with the man before her. 'Look at it this way, every negative situation has something positive that comes from it, Anna,' she remembered Sam saying to her. 'I've been through a lot in my life, met a lot of people. But there has never been anyone who has even crossed my path, who closely resembles you...' he'd finished. Her grin turned into a full blown smile as she watched him walk toward the door...
...but faded immediately when she felt a cold, metal ring hit the back of her head. She knew what that was...she tried not to panic, but her face fell.
Ezekiel saw the Thompson girl sitting outside of the gas station, on his way to search for them, and pulled the Impala over to the side of the road a ways away, getting out and sneaking up behind her. God, these people made his job way too easy. He'd seen an abandoned shack a ways back...he could take them there and guard them until Cathryn told him to, well...pull the trigger. He saw a chance to get both of their attention, with the Winchester boy walking out of the store and the Thompson girl standing there, just watching him. Stupid people with their stupid emotions. He didn't understand this love...it was the weakest of human emotions. It made people do stupid things, not focus on the basics around them. For example, if the Thompson girl had been paying even the slightest bit of attention to her surroundings, rather than the Winchester boy in the store? She would have seen Ezekiel coming up behind her with his gun aimed, ready to fire.
Sam looked out the door as he stood at the counter in the store, meeting eyes with Anna. God, she was amazing. Sam had told her everything...about his visions, his telekinesis, everything, and she still wanted to stick with him. He paid for the sodas and sandwiches that he bought at the gas station, then made his way back out to the car, and more importantly, Anna. But when he got out the door, he almost dropped the merchandise, when he saw a man, totally unfamiliar, holding a gun to the back of Anna's head. Panic was in her eyes, as the man behind her beckoned Sam to come closer. Sam obeyed, and looked the man in the eye, hoping that his fear didn't show. "Wh--what do you want from us?" he asked, wondering why the man inside the store hadn't come out, or if he'd even seen the suspicious activity going on out there.
Ezekiel cocked the gun and prepared to shoot. "Get in the car. The girl drives, got it? You're in the passenger's seat, Romeo. You're going to follow my directions or you both get it," he grinned as they followed his directions and got into the Impala. "No speaking. Clear? Anything is said from either of you, I shoot you both. Take a left out of this parking lot. And go until you see a small shack. That's our destination..." he smiled wryly. The twenty-somethings were his puppets. They'd do whatever he needed them to, and he relished that thought. Maybe that love emotion wasn't totally useless after all...
Title: Cat and Mouse
Rating: Well, there's graphic violence and possible future smut, so I'll go with a safe NC17.
Author: Lizi
Pairing: Dean/OFC, Sam/OFC (mostly Dean/OFC centric this time around)
Warnings/Spoilers: If you're up to date on the show, you should be spoiler free (plus, the fact that I'm a recently hooked Supernatural fan, so Wikipedia has been my friend when it came to this fic). As for warnings, there's gratuitous violence and Resident Evil style gore. And cursing. And smut. I'm a bad girl. =P
Author's Note: The follow up to my original story, Project Mayhem. All character are still around, plus I'll add a couple in later.
Words: 3,801
Summary: Dean and Raina meet up, and Sam and Anna get into some trouble…
For Raina and Dean, being all but alone, aside from Jessi, in a town as wide open as Townsend, Montana and finding one another may have been an impossible task. Unfortunately, that daunting a task wasn't quite daunting enough for Cathryn Lavalee's taste. She called her new apprentice, Ezekiel Grizwald, and asked him to run to the center of town, to steal Dean's car while his back was turned, and prevent Anna and Sam from getting to Townsend, by any means necessary.
Ezekiel, a man in his early-to-mid thirties, had been a lonely man before Cathryn came along. He'd tinkered in his basement, creating chemicals and other experiments that were right up Cathryn's alley. She'd found him via an internet search. He'd been imprisoned for creating a noxious gas that had been uncharted and killed half of his coworkers at a chemical plant in New York City. She paid off the judge at his trial to have him released to Umbrella care, and he was now her new lackie. This time, she knew she had done right, because unlike Jessica, this man had no conscience. He hadn't even apologized for killing his coworkers. Simply called it a work related accident and left it be.
Yes, Raina, Dean, Anna, Sam and Jessica were in for a much greater adventure this time. And I don't think any of them had the slightest idea what they were getting themselves into...
Dean turned down an alleyway, convinced that he'd heard a sound coming from that direction. So, he followed his gut and rushed down the alley, only to find that it was a dead-end, and there was nothing but garbage there. He sighed sadly. There were a pair of dead rottweilers and a dead alley cat laying on the ground, their fur and flesh rotting off. That must have been a side effect of whatever drug Umbrella was using to kill people or animals. Or whatever they killed. He could see Sam now, shedding tears for the fallen animals and giving them a little funeral. He chuckled and turned around, starting back down the alley, only to hear one of the dogs begin to growl once he got three or four steps away. Wait, hadn't they been dead? He turned his head and his eyes widened, when one of the dog that he'd thought to be dead stood up. And the other quickly followed. He whirled around and aimed his gun at them. But they weren't stopping. No, they charged straight at him and tried to pounce him...but he fired quick enough, and the first one fell back to the ground. The second lunged at him, and he moved out of the way, then shot at it, knocking it to the ground, then shooting it once again, killing it. "Holy shit, that was insane..." he whispered.
Ezekiel had been commanded by Cathryn to get the '67 Impala from the center of town. Fortunately, he'd learned how to hotwire in his nice little stint running from the law, so he made his way to the town center, catching sight of the Impala, parked a dozen or so feet away from the fountain. Beautiful car, really. He nodded and opened the door. The guy hadn't locked his door? As if someone with a '67 Impala wouldn't lock their door. Not any worthy owner, anyway. Ezekiel would take better care of it. He nodded and looked at the ignition. Could this get any easier? The keychain hung from the ignition, key inserted, as if it were ready for him to steal. "Wow. You really are an idiot, Winchester..." he quipped as he started the car and peeled off, toward where Cathryn had told him to go.
Dean heard a vehicle screeching down the street, and his eyebrows immediately went up. He ran out to the main road, just in time to see his car crossing back over the border to Townsend. "Hey! Hey wait!" he took off in a dead sprint down the rain covered street, eventually slowing down and coming to a stop. "Fuck..." he turned and punched the closest thing to him, realizing all too quickly that it wasn't a wise plan, when his fist connected with a metal lamp post. "Ow!" he shouted, shaking his hand back and forth and whimpering in pain. "Yeah, this was a brilliant idea, Winchester. Drive yourself out to the middle of nowhere, alone, to look for a woman that you're not even sure is here? Maybe Sam was right..." he started toward the border to the town, to catch the first ride out of Montana.
A little late, but at least he was there. David Petersen got out of his Jeep and watched as the rest of the biohazard team arrived to guard the town border. He stepped out of his car and looked around, just in time to see a young man running toward the border. He didn't look like one of those creatures, but just to be safe, he raised his gun and aimed it at him. "No one is allowed to exit the town lines, kid. No one is allowed in or out. Under any circumstances. Sorry, but it looks like you're stuck here. Now turn around because I don't want me or my people to catch whatever it is you're carrying."
Dean glowered at the man who was standing between he and his only exit. "What?" his jaw dropped, and he huffed out a huge sigh. So, he had to find an alternate way out here, that was all that meant. Because there was no way in hell that he was going to stick around this hellhole until he got eaten by a zombie or whatever. That was fine. "I thought you guys were supposed to defend the people..." he grumped as he headed back toward the center of town. This had been a massive waste of time. So far, all he'd gotten from the trip to find Raina was a disappearing car. He half-smiled. At least the rain was letting up. But, no sooner had he thought that then the rain started up once again, this time almost like the ground was taking a shower. The raindrops were huge. He looked around for anything that seemed like a way to get out, only to see a helicopter take off from a facility on the other side of town. "Heliport, huh? Well, that's where I want to be, then..." he nodded as he started off in that direction.
Raina started down a back street, through a dark alleyway, and raised an eyebrow when she heard what seemed to be a legion of vehicles coming in the distance. "What the..." she raised an eyebrow as she followed the sound, only to see a couple of the bodies that had been laying on the ground standing up. "For the love of all things..." she rolled her eyes, realizing suddenly that she was alone in front of over 100 zombies. She swallowed hard. So, this was how it was going to end, huh? She swallowed hard. Well, she wouldn't go out without a fight. She went into fighting stance and kicked at the zombie closest to her, watching as it fell over and the head rolled about three feet from the body. "Whoa..." she whispered. "What the..." she closed her fist and punched at another zombie, watching as it fell to it's knees, then to the floor. "Wh...what the hell? I..." she ran a hand through her hair and raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Dean heard someone around the other side of the alley and cocked an eyebrow up. "What the..." he made his way toward the sound, and leaned against the wall, readying his gun and looking off to the side that the sounds were coming from. That silhouette...that figure--that long, curly hair...it couldn't be. Could it? It couldn't be this simple. He watched as a zombie approached her from where she couldn't see, then aimed and fired at it, taking it down from a safe distance, then rushing out to the center of the action...
Raina heard the gunshot, then whirled around and looked in the direction that it came from. No. No way it could be...she gasped and shoved through a group of zombies, running at the figure, and when he came into clear view, she almost leapt up and threw her arms around him. "Dean! Oh my God!" she felt his arms wrap around her and she pulled back from the hug to look at him, her eyes welling up. Thankfully, the rain masked it. She pulled back from the hug and looked into his eyes. "Is...is it really you? Did you...what are you doing in Montana?"
Dean hugged Raina tightly to him, until she retreated a little, then he simply looked at her, his eyes ecstatic, and his lips curling up into a smile. "It's really me..." he moved a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes, out of the way. He chuckled when she asked what he was doing in Montana, and shrugged his shoulder, smiling a little. "I came to look for you. I heard about the 'radiation leak' and heard the name Umbrella. And I just got this feeling in my gut that you were here. I knew you didn't die! Sam and Anna though you did!" he pulled her to him again, then closed his eyes, relishing this moment. "I wasn't going to give up until I found you, though. I knew. I knew!" he opened his eyes and looked over her shoulder, noticing that the zombies that had been surrounding Raina before were heading their way. "We need to find some place to hide out. Or just a way out of town..." he nodded over his shoulder and started to turn around.
Raina fought the urge to lean into Dean's touch when he moved her hair from her face, but rapidly found herself losing the fight. Her heart filled up when he told her that he came to find her, and she was tempted to kiss him. But as he continued to speak, her heart sank again. She looked at the ground. "They didn't want to come find me?" she asked. Her best friend and partner for four years wasn't even hopeful enough to come and find her. Well, part of her understood. She'd been in a building, seconds from when it had exploded, after all. She wouldn't think that anyone could survive that, either. But Dean...had kept the faith and knew that she was alive...and came to find her. She was a second away from kissing him, when he suggested that they get out of that area. She nodded and followed him to the road, but she raised an eyebrow and looked toward the border. "Why can't we just leave? I mean, where's the Impala?"
Dean sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea," he chuckled a little and looked toward the border. "Someone stole it. And we can't leave because there's a jackass of a border patrol type guy making sure that no one leaves..." he shook his head. "I'm willing to bet that Umbrella paid them off, or something like that," he rolled his eyes. He looked around for somewhere for them to hide out. "Maybe we can hide out in that mill there..." he nodded his head toward a mill that overlooked a dam. They must have been on the abandoned side of town, because not many of the buildings that surrounded them had windows. But the mill they were about to go into was one of the only ones that did. Dean led Raina to the door, and tried to open it, but when he realized that it was locked, he looked to Raina for any kind of idea.
Raina sighed. Someone stole Dean's Impala? She grumbled about the idea of some Umbrella agent driving such a beautiful car...plus that it was Dean's car. Her face fell even farther when he spoke of the guard at the town line. "Fantastic...so we're stranded in this freaking abandoned town until we're zombie chow or we find an alternate way out...life is wonderful, you know that?" she rolled her eyes and followed Dean when he headed toward an abandoned mill. But when he pulled on the door and it didn't open, she looked around some more, for another way in. Up on a higher level, up the stairs of the fire escape, there was a weak, old metal door that could probably be broken open, and when she pointed it out, Dean nodded. Sure, zombies could climb stairs, but it gave them more time to prepare themselves before they became chow. Plus, the stairs were broken at a point about six feet from the ground.
Dean let Raina climb up the odd lattice on the side of the building, then followed her lead, making his way up as the zombies started to get closer. Her feet touched the steps, and she reached an arm out to help him, bringing a smile to his face. "Thanks, Raina..." he took her hand and jumped from the lattice to the last step before they broke off. They walked up the remaining steps and Dean turned the door handle. Locked again. "Jesus Christ, there are no teenage vandals in Montana, to break in and unlock doors for us? What are they, all peppy, super religious, neo-conservative, goat fuckers or something?" he turned around and looked down at the zombies on the ground. "I don't even see any vandalism! It's like Umbrella controlled the whole town!" he looked at Raina, who seemed amused. "What?" he raised an eyebrow. Had he said something that funny?
Raina looked up from using the scalpel that Jessi had used to unlock her handcuffs, to try and unlock the door, at Dean. "Peppy, super-religious, neo-conservative, goat fuckers?" she burst out laughing. "Last thing I checked, no vandalism is a good thing..." she smiled. Yes, she really missed him. They'd only spent a small amount of time together the first time they met, but she had missed him like crazy. She was having difficulty with the door, so she backed up and prepared to kick the doorknob in, when a zombie fell from the roof, down to their tiny area. She jumped. "Holy shit!" she yelled, hauling back and kicking the zombie down over the railing, to the ground with all his brethren. Whatever they'd done to her was helping her out at the moment.
Dean stared in shock as Raina knocked the zombie over the edge with one kick. He glanced at the ground as it stood back up and walked over to the wall beneath them, clawing at it and trying to climb up. Probably hoping for some lunch. "Holy shit!" he shouted as he looked back at Raina. "One kick, and you send a zombie flying over the edge? I'm impressed..." he chuckled lightly. Neither of them had any idea what was going on in Raina's body, though. Muscles doubled in strength, without growing, and the Nephthys virus was bonding with her cells, to the point that there was no reverse. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten her to the new facility, because there would have been brainwashing--and she would have been, well, evil, for lack of a better word.
Raina smiled and shrugged, though a bit of concern showed through in her eyes. "I know. I think Umbrella did something to me, actually..." she bit her lower lip. "I mean, I don't feel any different, but..." she decided to demonstrate the extent of what she could do, by hauling back to kick the door to the mill in. "Now, I can do that..." she sighed as the door flew open. She looked nervously at Dean. "I mean..." she looked down at herself. "I don't look any different, but I feel...really strong. And a lot smarter, too," she hoped that Dean wasn't freaked out, and she sighed deeply. "If you don't want me around anymore, I'll understand...I mean, it's hard telling what Umbrella did to me..."
When Raina told him that she didn't know what Umbrella had done to her, his hatred for the damned corporation increased tenfold, at the least. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed a little. He'd flip out and hunt them down if they'd harmed her too much. Sure, she looked normal, and this strength thing was kind of hot, but who knew what was going on in her bloodstream and muscles and all that? He shook his head, put his arm around her shoulders and led her into the safety and dryness of the old mill. "I'm not going to leave you behind, Raina. Like someone once told me, a good zombie hunter never travels alone. I am a zombie hunter now, after all..." he winked and ran his hand through her wet hair. "Plus, I didn't go over a thousand miles just to get here and leave you behind..."
Raina took a second to study Dean's face, making sure that he wasn't just saying that. She smiled. Dean was unlike anyone she'd ever known before. Even her former partner had left her behind. But not Dean. He'd actually driven over a thousand miles, on a hunch, to a place that he wasn't even a hundred percent that she was in, just to find her? She couldn't say that anyone had done that before, and it filled her heart up. "Thank you, Dean...really..." she felt her eyes well up, but rather than spaz out and cry, she simply put her arms around him and swallowed hard, trying not to combust with tears against his shoulder. "Shall we...move on?" she asked as she nodded her head down the hallway, toward a door at the end. Never, ever in her life had she been so grateful for someone. There was nothing at all that she wouldn't do for him.
~*~
Anna pulled over at a gas station, smiling a bit when she saw a sign on the side of the road, which said 'Townsend, 25 MI.' Good. They were at the latter end of their journey. Meaning when they got to the dead town, she could grab Dean by the shoulders, shake him and tell him that Raina was dead. It pained her. Really, it did. She wasn't trying to be callous. But Dean was going crazy with his 'she isn't dead' suspicions. She looked into the store window, at Sam, who was inside getting each of them something to eat and drink. She smiled gratefully. He'd kept her sane through losing her best friend. There weren't many people who could have done that. She was beginning to fall in love with the man before her. 'Look at it this way, every negative situation has something positive that comes from it, Anna,' she remembered Sam saying to her. 'I've been through a lot in my life, met a lot of people. But there has never been anyone who has even crossed my path, who closely resembles you...' he'd finished. Her grin turned into a full blown smile as she watched him walk toward the door...
...but faded immediately when she felt a cold, metal ring hit the back of her head. She knew what that was...she tried not to panic, but her face fell.
Ezekiel saw the Thompson girl sitting outside of the gas station, on his way to search for them, and pulled the Impala over to the side of the road a ways away, getting out and sneaking up behind her. God, these people made his job way too easy. He'd seen an abandoned shack a ways back...he could take them there and guard them until Cathryn told him to, well...pull the trigger. He saw a chance to get both of their attention, with the Winchester boy walking out of the store and the Thompson girl standing there, just watching him. Stupid people with their stupid emotions. He didn't understand this love...it was the weakest of human emotions. It made people do stupid things, not focus on the basics around them. For example, if the Thompson girl had been paying even the slightest bit of attention to her surroundings, rather than the Winchester boy in the store? She would have seen Ezekiel coming up behind her with his gun aimed, ready to fire.
Sam looked out the door as he stood at the counter in the store, meeting eyes with Anna. God, she was amazing. Sam had told her everything...about his visions, his telekinesis, everything, and she still wanted to stick with him. He paid for the sodas and sandwiches that he bought at the gas station, then made his way back out to the car, and more importantly, Anna. But when he got out the door, he almost dropped the merchandise, when he saw a man, totally unfamiliar, holding a gun to the back of Anna's head. Panic was in her eyes, as the man behind her beckoned Sam to come closer. Sam obeyed, and looked the man in the eye, hoping that his fear didn't show. "Wh--what do you want from us?" he asked, wondering why the man inside the store hadn't come out, or if he'd even seen the suspicious activity going on out there.
Ezekiel cocked the gun and prepared to shoot. "Get in the car. The girl drives, got it? You're in the passenger's seat, Romeo. You're going to follow my directions or you both get it," he grinned as they followed his directions and got into the Impala. "No speaking. Clear? Anything is said from either of you, I shoot you both. Take a left out of this parking lot. And go until you see a small shack. That's our destination..." he smiled wryly. The twenty-somethings were his puppets. They'd do whatever he needed them to, and he relished that thought. Maybe that love emotion wasn't totally useless after all...