[fic] portraitofafool; Dust & Shadow
[ Open Reccing]
Title: Dust & Shadow
Writer: Portraitofafool
Status of work: complete
Characters and/or pairings: Sam/Dean
Rating: R
Warnings, kinks & contents:[Click to read]AU, death, global pandemic, graphic depictions of violence & physical illness, horror, language
Length:80,008
Summary: On Valentine's Day, 1991, the world begins a slow fall to its knees. Sam and Dean grow up in a world ruled by fear as the survivors huddle in the valley of the shadow. It is in this world that they learn the true meaning of the word love.
Reccer's notes: One of my favorite genres of SPN fanfic is apocalypse fiction and I have read so many that at times they blur together. I read this one a few months back and I still think about it. There isn't much supernatural going on, the apocalypse is caused by a virus, and it is the snippets written from the virus' point of view that caught my attention. The world is well built, the writing is excellent, the characterization is great, the heartbreak is sublime. On top of that, the virus is probably the best original "character" I've ever read. Not for the faint of heart, but if you want a long read to sink into on a dreary winter night and you are prepared to cry, this is the best there is.
[Short excerpt]The plague walks out of a laboratory on the twelfth day of February, 1991. It’s just after four in the morning when it wanders out of its carefully controlled environment to the sound of blaring alarms. It scurries to the four corners and the little directions in between, carried on paws and in the folds of clothes, the tight strands of dreadlocked hair. It even catches a ride on a faux quail feather in the band of a hat; a touch of whimsy for sure. Those carrying it are in a hurry, the ones with two feet anyway, so its escape is a speedy one.