Destinations - Part 5, Supernatural, NC-17, Broken!Verse
Fandom: Supernatural, Broken!Verse (All of Broken is Here)
Title: Destinations, Part 5 (of 5)
Pairing/Characters: Sam/Dean, John, Caleb, Bobby, Gabe (OMC), Allen (OMC), Ash
Rating: NC-17, for ongoing themes and sex
Word Count: 6772
Summary: Dean confronts Ash, Sam runs interference for Caleb who meets up with Gabe and the others. The last of the Gorlians get what's coming to him.
A/Ns & Warnings: No sex, alas...but much bloody violence and demonic animal possession. There is an epilogue to follow, but probably not until after I finish my move. I go offline tonight and won't be back on until Sunday morning sometime.
For all that the place seemed like it should be heavily guarded, Dean didn’t run into any resistance as he followed the road down to the house. He stopped the cart where he could see it, watched Ash enter, nodding to the two men sitting guard.
Okay. Front door was out of the question. Unless he took them out first. He checked his gun, and tucked it back in his pants. These were men, not monsters. He eyed the house. There had to be another way in. Dean turned the cart and aimed for the back of the house.
There was another porch, and a door. That was nailed shut. Dean stopped the cart and sprinted across. The porch was falling apart, the boards rotted and collapsing.
The two windows that flanked the door looked promising. He sidled up to the house, peeking in to what appeared to be a kitchen. It was empty. Dean picked his way over the porch, freezing with each creak and groan, half expecting someone to come hurtling at him.
The window was warped and hard to move. It rumbled as he forced it up. It seemed odd that the back of the house was unguarded, but he supposed they didn’t expect anyone to survive long enough to get to it. Finally he had it open just enough to squeeze into.
The house was quiet. The kitchen didn’t look like it had been used in years. A thick layer of dust sat over everything. The same in the front room. He ducked as he neared the front door, though the glass was so dirty in the windows, all the men on the porch would see would be shadows and movement…and since Ash was already here…
Dean moved to the stairs, stepping lightly and hoping they didn’t make any noise. The hallway at the top was dark, but there was light coming from under one door. Dean paused at the door, listening. The sounds that greeted him gave him pause. Ash sounded as though…Dean closed his eyes. Ash was having sex…of some fashion.
He pulled his gun and reached for the door. Better to catch him with his pants down. He pushed the door open, gun held ready, and stepped inside. “Not a sound,” he said as Ash’s head came up off the mattress. A naked girl was kneeling on the floor between his feet, her mouth stretched around his cock.
Dean blinked, a vague thought echoing in the back of his mind. He couldn’t catch it though and it rambled away.
“Well, if it isn’t the prodigal slave.” Ash said, pushing the girl off him. His hand fisted in her hair and pulled her forward as he stood. Dean adjusted his stance and the gun. “Look familiar, slave? Get on your knees.”
Dean shook his head and took a deep breath. “Not on your life. Let go of the girl.”
Ash sneered at him. “It’s all in there you know? All I have to do is figure out how to trigger it.” He yanked on the girl again. “What are you?”
“Nothing. No one. Alone.” She spoke with no inflection, no emotion. Her voice flat and dead.
Nothing. No one. Alone. It rolled around in his head.
Ash was moving now. “Sound familiar, slave? You are nothing. You are no one. You are alone.”
Dean’s eyes flashed to his, the gun raised to point into his chest. “I may be nothing, Ash, but I’m not alone. Right now the entire hunting community that you betrayed is descending on this place. Right now, they’re out there rounding up your monstrosities and your brother.”
Ash’s eyes flashed with defiance. “You’re not going to kill me though, Dean. You’re a Winchester…don’t believe in killing people…only evil.”
“You don’t think people can be evil?” Dean asked, pushing Ash back toward the bed. “You don’t think you’re evil?”
Ash sort of shrugged, his hand leaving the girl’s hair and moving toward the night stand. “Stop. Hands where I can see them. You’re going to tell me what you did to my father, and how to reverse it.”
Ash laughed, tucking his cock back into his pants. “Why would I do that?”
Dean swallowed and stepped closer. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to hurt you.”
Ash laughed again and Dean struck, hitting him on the cheek with the butt of the gun. Ash’s eyes were dark and glittering when he turned back. “I have only got to yell, and this place will fill with men who will be all too willing to re-educate you in the proper behavior of a slave in the presence of his masters.”
“And you’ll be dead before they get here.” Dean said, his voice amazingly steady despite the turmoil inside him. “Tell me what I need to know.”
Ash smiled slightly, his hands rising in a gesture of surrender. “He’s been implanted with a series of devices that allow us full control of his body, and possessed with the spirit of a bear and with a high level demon. There isn’t much you can do. Cut off his head. Only way to really kill him. Anything less and the demon can keep the body animated.”
Dean’s stomach dropped. He was lying. He had to be lying. He wasn’t going to kill his father. “Tell me how to undo it.” Dean said, his jaw clenching.
Ash shook his head. “There is no way to undo it.”
“You’re lying.” Dean’s hand was starting to shake. Nothing. No One. Alone. “You’re lying.”
Ash shrugged. “So are you.” He pointed at the desk filled with computer equipment. “If your friends were all over this place, I’d know it.”
Dean gestured toward the desk. “Show me.”
Ash stood and went to the desk, bringing the six monitors to life with one touch. “Slow. Show me my father.”
Ash pressed a few buttons and the scene on one of the monitors changed. His father was getting up from a table in the medical clinic. “Where are they taking him?”
“Don’t know. Usually they get a few days in lockdown to let all the pieces acclimate. My uncle has a soft spot for your Dad…so he may be let loose into the populace early.”
His fingers moved over the keyboard and another monitor switched to show a cave like structure built from trees and shrubs. Several of the monsters could be seen. “We call it the zoo. Always a few casualties when someone new is added.”
His fingers flew again and another monitor changed, only this time it was Dean himself on the monitor. Dean naked and on the floor of a cage with some man’s cock up his ass. Ash laughed as Dean’s hand shook.
“Tell me what you are.” A second man was circling them, a whip in his hand. The Dean on the screen hung his head.
“Nothing. No one. Alone.”
Behind them, the girl whispered the words in response. “Louder Slave.”
“Nothing. No one. Alone.”
Dean pressed the gun into Ash’s temple. “Turn it off.” His voice was hard and cold and he wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in the man’s head.
“You sure? We’re just getting to the good part. When you say thank you to the man for fucking you.”
It felt like his stomach was going to explode. His head was reeling with unwanted memories. He closed his eyes briefly, then decided to end it himself. Dean brought the butt of the gun down on the back of Ash’s neck and he crumpled, sliding off the chair onto the floor. Dean kicked him once for good measure, then sat himself down at the computer system. He was no geek like Gabe, or even Sam, but maybe he could get a little information before he went out to find his father…and Caleb.
Sam ran. He knew there were things watching him, pacing him. They weren’t sure whether to attack or not. He ran without really knowing where. Dean had been here. Right here.
He stopped. He wasn’t sure how he knew. He just did. Dean and Caleb. He looked around him. There were eyes, staring down from the trees behind him. Whispers. He shook his head. He needed to concentrate. Focus. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. What good were these fucking “gifts” if he couldn’t figure out how to use them?
He opened his eyes. There were trails. Like the silvery wake Gabe had left behind. Dean and Caleb had moved together toward the nearest building. He blinked and they were gone.
He headed toward the building, ducking as he heard shots and shouts. Gabe and Allen and Bobby must have started. Focus. Dean first. He had to find Dean.
The door to the building opened and three men in lab coats came out, followed by something big and draped in bear skin. The bears claws were strapped onto its hands and feet. His breath caught in his throat as he realized. “Dad.” He breathed the word, saw the big man pause.
Then a fourth man emerged, carrying a device that looked like it was controlling his father. He handed it off to a man approaching. “Ryan, take our new bear down to the zoo. Let’s get him into fighting mode. Want to see what he’s made of.”
The man named Ryan nodded, taking the controller and he and John moved away. Sam bit his lip, watching the jerky motions. Twice John stopped and half turned toward Sam, then resumed. Sam watched him go and he knew he should find Dean, but he found himself following his father instead.
Caleb squatted and tried to catch his breath. Blood caked his hands from the thing he’d had to kill. Gordon was still tracking him, and he wasn’t alone. There were at least two more behind him, and who knew how many in front of him. He’d gotten turned around. The trees were denser here.
They hadn’t come this far into the property before. There was no way to hide with the blood covering his hands and clothes. The scent alone was going to attract them. He hoped Dean was making progress.
He had to keep moving. Just keep drawing them away from Dean. Hopefully Bobby and Allen had found a way in. He could hear Gordon again. He’d come to recognize the growl. He started forward, digging through the brush and stopping when his hand encountered something that was not wood or leaves or grass. Something metal. He pushed at the clinging greenery that disguised it.
He backed off a pace, looking around. It wasn’t big, but if he was far enough back in the property this could be the very thing Gabe had been trying to get them to. He worked his way around to the door. Of course it was locked.
They were getting close. He tried to mark the spot in his head and took off running again.
Gabe gave up on the gun pretty quickly, pulling a long blade out of his duffle. “Demons keep the body animated after they should be dead.” He shrugged apologetically at his father who was reloading his gun for the third time.
He swung the blade a little, wincing as the stitches in his arm tugged. He’d almost forgotten them. His father say the face. “You okay?”
“Just a scratch. Days old. I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t an ‘I’m fine’ face.”
Gabe rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Sam stitched it up days ago. Can we focus please?”
“Guys.” Bobby’s voice was soft, but it cut through their banter. “We aren’t alone.”
Gabe looked where Bobby was looking. “This sucks.” He adjusted his grip on the blade handle and advanced slowly. There was no telling how many they would have to kill to get to Caleb or Dean…or John or Sam…not to mention Ash and Andrew.
To make matters worse, he wasn’t really sure which should be their priority. As two of the techno-serkers attacked he decided his priority was not getting killed. Everything else could wait.
Sam watched the man with the controller direct his father into a grove of trees. Sam picked his way around watching in fascination as whatever control was being exerted on his father was release.
John dropped instantly to a crouch of sorts, his head up, sniffing the air. Others appeared slowly out of the dense trees and brush. Ryan held a tranquilizer gun now, the controller slung around on a strap over one shoulder.
Sam wanted to get his hands on both. He contemplated jumping him, but any movement would take him across the mouth of the opening, exposing him to the growing number of creatures inside. There was a roar and Sam looked back to where his father was charging at another one, his claws flashing, slashing and the other one whimpered as it fell, bleeding from the stomach and neck.
There was screaming, inhuman and terrifying. One by one they challenged him…three, then four fell…then they were backing off, some licking wounds, some showing signs of submission. He roared again, up on his feet. The sound echoed around them.
Ryan chuckled and raised a radio. “Subject delivered to the zoo. He’s fabulous.” He stuck the radio in a pocket and headed away from the grove. “You kids play nice now.”
Sam saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and almost stood up to shout. His father was on top of Ryan in seconds, his claws emerging out the front of him. Ryan fell forward, John riding him to the ground. He sniffed the air, turning right to where Sam was hiding.
His head cocked to the side, his eyes burned yellow and Sam’s stomach sank. “No.”
“I can smell you Sammy.” It said.
Sam stood. There was a gun in his hand, but both he and the demon knew he wouldn’t use it. “He’s angry Sammy…wants you to run away…wants you to put a bullet in his head.”
“Maybe I will.” Sam took a few steps forward, sparing a glance into the grove. There were at least ten of them in there, all gathering to watch.
“No…you won’t hurt Daddy.”
“I’m going to send you back to hell.” Sam said.
“Not with that little gun. But I tell you what Sammy…I’ll make a deal with you.”
“I don’t deal with demons.”
The thing made his father’s face pout. “No? Don’t you even want to hear my terms?”
Sam shook his head. “Get the fuck out of him.”
“You sure? You ready for your father as a full on berserker? You’d have to kill him then. You ready for that?”
It stood, licking the man’s blood from the claws and leaving a smear of blood over his father’s face. “I kinda like it in here…all this rage and fury…makes me feel at home.”
The others were advancing now. Sam’s head was starting to pound. He growled and adjusted his grip on the gun. “Come away with me Sammy, and I’ll make sure that Daddy and big brother Dean are a-okay.”
Sam shook his head. “You killed my mother.”
Sam watched him blink…the yellow gone, replaced by the liquid chocolate of his father’s. “Sam…Sam…”
He lowered the gun and stepped closer, then his father screamed, “Run!” and his eyes went blank and dark and Sam only missed getting clawed by inches as the bear was back. He ran, not looking back as his father and the others followed.
Dean watched the monitors as they cycled through the various security cameras around the property. He caught a glimpse of Caleb at one point, still evading Gordon, and he thought he saw Sam, but he was gone before Dean could refocus the camera.
“Okay….show me something useful. Oh.” The bottom monitor brought up a map. Red dots seemed to mark the creatures, moving around the property. One of the security screens switched and he saw Gabe and Allen fighting for their lives. Then Bobby was there with the biggest fucking gun Dean had ever seen, blowing the head clean off the thing.
Beside him on the floor Ash was stirring. Dean kicked him again, then his eyes flicked up at the girl. He’d forgotten she was even there. “Hey…um…it’s okay.” Her eyes were wide with fear and they moved between Ash and Dean. “He’s not going to hurt you.”
She didn’t seem to understand that, bowing her head. “It is his right to hurt me if he chooses. He is my master.”
Dean shook his head. Nothing. No one. Alone. He swallowed. “No. He isn’t. He’s just an asshole of a computer hacker. He has no right to hurt you.”
“He is my master. I must obey.”
Dean closed his eyes. The image of himself on his knees filled his mind. He pushed it away. “You’re free. Do you…can you remember your name?”
She bowed forward even further. “I am nothing. No one. Alone.”
“I know that chorus. I’ve said it myself. But I am someone. I am Dean.” He stepped over Ash and lowered himself to his knees in front of her. He lifted her face with one hand under her chin. “You are someone. Someone I’d very much like to know.”
“You…you…” She didn’t lift her eyes to his. Dean spotted the mark, an “M” carved into her left breast. Licking his lips, he raised his shirt and showed her the “S” on his own chest.
“I was like you.” Dean said softly.
“Isn’t this touching.” Ash said behind him. Dean whirled and slammed a fist into his face. Ash slumped back to the floor and Dean shook his head.
“I don’t have time for this.” He looked around the room for something to tie him up, settling on ripping the sheet off the bed into strips. He made quick work of his ankles and wrists, then shoved a wad of material into his mouth and gagged him. “I have to go out there and find my brother. You stay inside. It’s safer here. When I’m done, I’ll come back for you. Do you understand?”
Her face was painted with fear. “Do you understand?”
She cringed, her eyes stealing to Ash. “Are you…my master now?”
Dean stepped back, starting to shake his head. “Yes. Yes. If that means you’ll listen to me.”
She nodded slowly, but was clearly far from convinced. “Stay here. Don’t let him loose. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can.”
He spotted the tranquilizer gun by the door. He lifted it and checked the chamber. It had a single dart in it. “Does he have more ammo for this?”
She nodded and pointed at the closet. “Right. Okay. Stay. I’ll be back.”
Sam barreled through the trees, his large curved knife in his hands now. He’d already used it on some of the faster ones, cutting through limbs and stomachs. It wasn’t killing them, but with any luck was slowing them down.
Then, he found Caleb…bowling him over and sending them crashing into leaves and brush. When they’d stopped rolling, Sam pulled back, panting. “Caleb?”
He nodded. “You okay?”
Sam shook his head. “Don’t know. Where’s Dean?”
“Don’t know.”
There was a low growl. “Gordon.” Caleb said.
“Gordon?” There was a deeper growl. “Dad.”
Caleb shook his head. “This is really not how I planned to spend my day.”
“Gabe’s supposed to be finding a way to shut them down.”
“Gabe’s here?”
Sam nodded, gasping air. “Left him with Allen and Bobby.”
“I know where the power center is.”
“I can lead them away. You go find Gabe.” He pointed in the direction he’d last known Gabe was.
“That’s suicide.” Caleb countered. “We’re better off if we stick together.”
Sam shook his head. “No. I’m better alone. Trust me on this. Lay low and give me a few minutes to get their attention.”
Caleb reached for him, but Sam was too fast, yelling and crashing through the brush. Caleb ducked, covering his head as the sound of stampeding feet rushed past him. “Fucking Winchesters.”
Caleb counted to ten, then set off, back tracking toward the grove where he and Gabe had encountered the berserker. He wasn’t quite there when he heard the sounds of battle. There was a sickening crunch and semi-automatic gunfire. Then Gabe’s voice. “Dad!”
He stood from his cover and rounded the tree, gun held at ready. Gabe was on his knees beside a bloodied Allen with Bobby standing watch. “Gabe?”
Gabe’s eyes came up and he was on his knees and across the clearing in seconds, his arms wrapped around Caleb’s body in a crushing hug. “Are you okay? Are you…fuck, Caleb!” Gabe shoved him back, his relief at seeing Caleb alive fading under his anger at having to worry at all. “What the fuck were you thinking? You…you…”
Caleb cupped a hand to Gabe’s cheek, drawing him closer, forgetting the other men and the danger in his need to reassure him. “I’m okay, Gabe. I’m fine. All in one piece and everything.” He might have kissed him but for Bobby clearing his throat.
“Nice to see you, Caleb.”
Gabe rolled his eyes and stepped back. Allen was sitting up. The front of his shirt was ripped and bloody but he appeared to be okay. “I’ve put down two. Injured a bunch more.”
“We’ve taken out about three…we think.” Bobby said. “Two for sure. We lost track of the other one.”
Caleb nodded. “They’ve monsterfied John.”
“You’ve seen him?” Bobby asked.
Caleb shook his head, looking back over his shoulder. “No. Sam has though. Ran into him a ways back.” He clapped a hand to Gabe’s shoulder. “Found what you were looking for last time we were here.”
“Control room?” Gabe asked.
Caleb shrugged. “Only thing out this far that isn’t natural. Metal walls, locked door. Figured you’d want to see it.”
Gabe nodded. “We stick together. Strength in numbers.”
“Not going to find me arguing.” Allen said. Caleb thought Allen looked at him funny, but brushed it off.
“Okay then. Follow me.”
Dean had roughly twenty darts in the beat up messenger bag he’d found in Ash’s closet, as he climbed into the cart and pointed it in the direction of the largest concentration of red dots on the map. Knowing his father, even in his currently altered state, that would be where he would find him…and is he could neutralize a few other targets on the way, so be it.
He went past the barn and headed toward the tree line. He had to abandon the cart. He just had to keep a dart to use on his father. Put him down and hope they could figure out a way to reverse what had been done to him.
He’d gone through half the box when he found himself with his back pressed against the trunk of a massive oak tree, trying to load the next dart with a hyena possessed woman snarling at him, her hands wrapped around the gun. He let go with one hand and punched her hard in the face, then wrenching the gun free. He got the dart in and the gun turned, but her partner pounced and he was face first in the dirt.
He yelled as claws dug into his shoulder. The woman on his back laughed. The other one lunged forward, biting at him and getting a hold on his upper arm. Dean rolled, trying to keep his grip on the gun, but it fell from his fingers.
He lashed out with an elbow, hitting one of them in the face. She yelped as he scrambled to his feet and dove for the gun. He nailed the one charging at him with a dart to the stomach and she slumped to the ground. The other one circled warily, watching as he loaded another dart. He lifted the gun and she ran. He shot anyway, hoping to catch her in the back to keep her off his trail.
There was a scream and he smirked. “That’s right, bitch-“
He didn’t finish as Gordon came crashing through the brush, his face wet with blood. His eyes found Dean and he growled. “Okay…nice kitty.” Dean reached into the bag for another dart, watching Gordon prowl toward him. “Caleb says your name is Gordon.”
It was still coming, and Dean’s fingers fumbled trying to get the dart loaded. Dean looked down and Gordon charged. Dean dropped, stiff-arming the gun up to hold Gordon off him. “Bad kitty.”
They struggled for a minute, then Gordon’s weight was lifted. Dean looked up to find his father holding Gordon, growling. Dean crawled backwards, trying to get out from under them. His father roared and tossed Gordon aside. Gordon hit the ground and didn’t move. Dean froze as he felt those eyes on him, his father’s body, the bear’s skin…and yellow glowing eyes…”Dad?”
“Right there.” Allen pointed over his son’s shoulder.
Gabe slapped at his hand. “I see it. The question is, delete it or hack it?”
Allen rubbed his chin. “If we disable it, that leaves them all free to attack.”
“They’re pretty much going to kill us if we leave them like they are.” Gabe said, his fingers flying over the keyboard. He glanced up at Caleb standing guard with Bobby at the door. “I’m kind of surprised I haven’t set off a bunch of hidden sentries.”
“Maybe you have and everyone’s so busy they don’t have time to deal with it. Try that.” He pointed to a file and Gabe nodded.
“Uplink to the controllers. If we had controllers that might be worth something.” He chewed on his lip and went back to the command file. “I say we hack it. Might take longer, but it might mean we can shut them all down.”
“Then I suggest you get busy. I don’t know how much more we can handle.” Bobby said.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah, right.” He exhaled slowly and started working his way into the file.
“Okay, Dad…I realize you’re having a really bad day…” Dean used a tree behind him to pull himself up to his feet.
“Daddy’s a little busy right now, Dean.”
“Shit.” Dean’s fingers were numb now, blood running down his arm from the bite and the bleeding from his cut up arm, since the wrestling on the ground had broken it open.
“I was hoping we could be a big happy family, once Sammy came to his senses, but I can see that the only way I can make Sammy see his place is if you’re dead.”
Finally. The dart slipped and he cocked the gun, only to find it ripped from his hands. Then he was being pulled, his feet dragging through the dirt. A bloody, dirty hand closed around his throat and lifted him from his feet.
“No!” Sam’s voice reverberated around them. Dean could feel it inside him, echoing in his head. “No. Put him down. It’s me you want.”
Dean could see Sam now, approaching slowly. The demon turned John’s body, made his face into a sickly smile. “Well hello there Sammy. We were just talking about you.”
“Put my brother down.”
“Come with me.”
Dean’s vision was starting to fade. He was going to pass out. He clawed at the hand holding him. “Got Ash, Sammy.” He choked the words out. Sam nodded, but didn’t take his eyes off of their father.
Sam had a book in his hands now. Dean could see it. He was speaking in Latin. The demon laughed. “Gonna send me back to hell, Sammy?”
“Put my brother down and we’ll negotiate.”
“Maybe I’ll just take him with me.” He ran, and hit a barrier between the two oak trees. He stumbled backward, losing his grip on Dean and landing in a heap at Sam’s feet.
Sam’s smile was nearly frightening. “I’m starting to figure all this out, you sick fuck. Now, get the hell out of my father.”
It was laughing, wiping blood from his face as it pulled itself upright. “I kind of like it in here.”
“Like this?” Gabe asked, rewriting the code as his father nodded.
Allen held one of the controllers that he’d found in a storage locker. “Good, it’s uploading.”
“So we have something resembling a plan?” Bobby asked.
Allen nodded. “We use this to herd them all into one place, some place we can lock down. Then we figure out how to get the demons and animal spirits out.”
“The medical clinic had locks on the doors.” Caleb said, but Gabe was already shaking his head.
“Barn…it’s got cages.” He looked up and Caleb nodded agreement. “Hang on. I can…” Gabe’s tongue hung out of his mouth as he manipulated more of the code. “I disabled all the other controllers but this one.”
“All right then, looks like we’re ready. Caleb, you’re on point. Bobby, watch our backs. Gabe and I will work the controller.”
“Billy, how’s our progress?” Andrew stood in the doorway of Bill’s office and Bill looked up from his notes to check the computer screen.
“He’s put down a half dozen. Mostly lesser animals. He killed Ryan.”
“He what?”
Bill shook his head. “He’s organized them into packs.” He frowned at the computer and punched a few keys. “That’s odd.”
Andrew waited for a moment then prodded. “What’s odd?”
“Not responding.”
“Who isn’t?”
“None of them are responding. I’ve got clumps, Gordon and a couple other cats are out near the Ring. Winchester’s in the Ring. There’s a handful close to the barn and two more groups near the zoo. There’s more dead than I thought.”
“How many?”
Bill squinted at the screen. “At least a dozen are dead or down.” He reached for a radio. “Ash, if you’re done with your blow job, we need you down here.”
There was no answer. “Ash.” He shook his head. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Andrew left the office and grabbed the first tech to pass him. “I want someone up to the house to bring my nephew down here.”
He turned as Bill came out of the office. “I’ve called in the handlers and guards. Sent them to round the animals up and lock down the zoo.”
“You think we’re under attack?”
“You did say someone had come looking for Winchester, right?”
“It was just two men.”
“It’s probably more now. You remember how they came at Dad in Austin…or for that matter how they came for the two boys. Maybe we should have taken a lesson.”
“I didn’t go after Winchester. He came to us.” Andrew said. “I thought he’d make an excellent assassin…like Gordon.”
Bill raised an eyebrow. “Gordon still isn’t predictable, even when he’s under direct control.”
“But he did those two kills clean.”
Bill nodded. The door burst open and one of the handlers fell through, holding his bleeding thigh. “We’ve lost control. They’re attacking.”
There was a low growl and Gordon limped in, slashing at the man until he fell in bloody shreds to the floor. “Billy?”
Bill backed up a step. “He’s hurt. In the office.” He kept his movements slow, his eyes on Gordon. Andrew moved in tandem. The just reached the door to the office when Gordon pounced.
“Sam?”
“Get behind me Dean and stay out of his reach.”
“What are you doing?”
Sam was sweating under the effort to not succumb to the pain building in his head and holding up the barrier…he’d done it before to protect himself…without thinking, without knowing what he was doing. This time, he’d wished it and it came.
“I’m trying to exorcise this bastard.”
“It’s not enough.” Dean said, his hand on Sam’s back.
“It’s a start.”
“It will make him savage.”
“He’s already savage, Dean. He’s a fucking demon. He’s THE fucking demon.”
Sam felt Dean shiver behind him. “He’s what?”
“That yellow eyed fuck killed out mother Dean. And in my dream he killed you. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“You can’t kill him, Sam.”
Sam shuddered, the image of both of them dead filling his mind. “If it means saving you I can.”
“No. Sam. It’s Dad.”
Sam shook his head. “Dad’s…” He adjusted his grip on the knife. The demon was circling the barrier, looking for a weakness. Sam shook his head again and resumed the Latin. Dean jumped from behind him.
“Not going to let you kill him Sam.”
“Dean, get the fuck out of the way!” Sam lunged forward, just as John’s body whirled toward Dean, his eyes gone black, his claws extended. “Dean!”
Giant claws raked over Dean’s stomach and he staggered backward, holding the wound and looking surprised. Then John lurched and Sam came to a screeching halt beside Dean, the book dropped, the knife forgotten as he pulled Dean to him.
The ground rumbled as John’s body collapsed, two tranquilizer darts sticking out of his thigh. It was just like his dream, only neither of them was dead. “Dean?”
Dean smiled weakly. “Now you can finish your damn exorcism.”
Sam shook his head. “After I take care of you.”
“I’m fine…just a scratch…three scratches. Deep scratches…but I’m fine.”
“No, Dean…you’re hurt. He’s out. I’ll come back for him.”
Dean took a deep breath and sat up. “Now.”
“It’ll only come back.” Sam said softly, his bravado slipping.
“What?”
“The demon. It wants me. It came after me at the church. It…has something to do with the dreams…and other stuff.”
“So it comes back. We’ll deal with it then. For now, I want my father back.”
“There’s still the bear.”
Dean conceded that point. “So get the bear too.”
Sam bit his lip. “I don’t know if a regular exorcism will do it.”
“Try.”
Sam nodded and picked the book back up, then rummaged in his bag for the bottle of holy water. His father’s body convulsed as he sprinkled it with the water and started to recite the Latin short form.
Gabe worked the controller to guide two more of the creatures into a large cage in the barn while his father examined the circle in the center of the floor. “They’ve done some dark stuff here.”
“I’ve got another one just a few hundred yards from here.” Gabe said, looking up from the controller and pointing.
“The clinic is that way.” Caleb said. Together they trotted in that direction. The dot stopped moving, then altered course and came their way.
“Gordon.”
Gabe looked up. He’d lost his animal skin somewhere along the way, but not the claws. He was covered in blood. “He’s not responding.” Gabe said. “I’m sending commands to go to the barn and he’s not moving.”
“He’s not attacking either.” Caleb said.
Gabe shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense.”
Suddenly, Gordon cocked his head and then hissed, charging toward them, then roaring past to tackle a man in a lab coat, eviscerating him in seconds. When he looked up, he was licking the man’s blood from his claws.
“I’m gonna be sick.” Gabe said, turning away.
“We can’t leave him loose.” Caleb took a step toward Gordon who moved off the corpse and squatted, as if waiting for Caleb.
“He seems to like you.” They both turned at the sound of Ash’s voice. He too was covered with blood, coming out of the clinic. “Think you’re clever little boy? Think you’re smarter than me?” In his hands was a larger controller.
“Give it up Ash, it’s over.” Caleb said. Beside him Gordon was growling.
“It’s only over when everyone is dead.” Ash said. “Let’s start with you two.” He worked a control and Gordon’s growl shifted. “Then I’ll take care of the rest of your friends.”
Inside the barn they could hear the others, screaming, fighting, rattling the bars. Gordon shifted from foot to foot, his eyes skipping from Caleb to Ash and back. A shot rang out and Ash staggered back, then ducked behind the building.
Allen came running, with Bobby behind him, but before they could follow him, Gordon took off. Ash appeared moments later, running for the barn. There was screaming and Gabe turned a little green.
“I don’t think we want to be standing here when Gordon’s done in there.” Caleb said.
Allen nodded. “How many more?”
Gabe looked down at the screen. “One. The others are either in the barn or dead.”
“John?” Bobby asked.
Gabe shrugged. “One way to find out.” He pointed. “It’s a hike.”
John felt it the moment the demon left his body…felt it claw to stay inside, to hold on to him…felt it tear at him. The bear went more quietly in comparison, its raw fury at being stuffed inside him echoing around his head even after it was gone.
He was far from empty though. He could feel every blade of grass under his body, the sticky mess of bear skin and blood covering him. He could feel the stitches in his neck and back…and under them, he could feel the bits of plastic and wire and metal.
He opened his eyes slowly. Sam was sitting duly beside him. Dean was sprawled in the grass nearby, his stomach bleeding. John had a vague memory of his own hand making the wound and looked down. His hands were bound inside bear claws. He lifted them trying to cut the claws off, trying to free himself.
Sam stirred. “Dad?” He blinked. “Stop…you’re going to hurt yourself. Stop.” His hands closed over John’s and John had to blink back tears.
“Get them off.” He grunted it and Sam nodded, looking around him for his knife, then slicing through the bindings.
John sat up shakily. His body hurt in ways and places he couldn’t understand. His broken ankle throbbed, probably broken worse than it had been. He shouldn’t even be alive. He looked at Dean.
Sam nodded. “Passed out. Just before the demon…” Sam looked like he was ready to pass out himself.
John felt himself stiffen, felt compelled to move away from Sam. Sam gasped and turned. “Gabe?”
Gabe and Caleb were followed by Allen and Bobby. “It’s okay…he’s okay.” Sam said. Gabe nodded and released the controller.
“You okay?” Bobby asked.
Sam shook his head. “Don’t know. Dean needs help.”
“Sam?” John reached for him, but he pulled away.
“Not yet…it…I need to…” Sam staggered to his feet, his breathing ragged. He stumbled a few feet away and fell to his knees, screaming and holding his head. John climbed to his knees to go to him, but Gabe stopped him.
“Give him a minute.”
“He’s going to pass out.”
Gabe nodded. “And when he does, we’ll carry his tall ass back to the car and pump him full of enough sedative that he’ll actually sleep without the fucking dreams…and maybe when he wakes up he’ll have this thing under control.”
“Thing?” John watched as Sam slumped to the side, and rolled onto his back, out cold. “What’s going on with Sam?”
Gabe shook his head. “There’ll be time for that later. For now…I think we’re best served just getting the hell out of here…getting you and Dean to the nearest hospital.”
John looked up at the young man. “You know a lot more than you’re telling me.”
Gabe smiled and nodded. “I usually do.”
Caleb was working with Bobby to lift Sam. Allen was pulling a rousing Dean to his feet. Gabe held out his hand to help John up. “Do you know where we’re going?”
Gabe chuckled and nodded. “I do…though I’m told that the destination doesn’t matter as much as the journey to get there.”
John snorted. “In this case, I hope the journey is short and uneventful.” They limped out of the circle of oak trees, though John felt as though there were eyes following them. It wasn’t far to a golf cart. They stopped by the barn and Allen and Bobby ran inside, coming out with a shake of their heads.
The clinic brought the same result. Nothing was left alive. John didn’t even argue when they lifted him out of the cart and put him in the car. Didn’t fight when they pulled into the ER. Sam was awake as they put John in the wheel chair, his eyes a little haunted, but he offered John a smile. “I’ll be in to see you in a bit.”
John thought about some of the images the demon had left behind as he watched his son pull himself together. Maybe most of the time it was about the journey. But sometimes, no matter what the journey brought, the destination was the same.
Title: Destinations, Part 5 (of 5)
Pairing/Characters: Sam/Dean, John, Caleb, Bobby, Gabe (OMC), Allen (OMC), Ash
Rating: NC-17, for ongoing themes and sex
Word Count: 6772
Summary: Dean confronts Ash, Sam runs interference for Caleb who meets up with Gabe and the others. The last of the Gorlians get what's coming to him.
A/Ns & Warnings: No sex, alas...but much bloody violence and demonic animal possession. There is an epilogue to follow, but probably not until after I finish my move. I go offline tonight and won't be back on until Sunday morning sometime.
For all that the place seemed like it should be heavily guarded, Dean didn’t run into any resistance as he followed the road down to the house. He stopped the cart where he could see it, watched Ash enter, nodding to the two men sitting guard.
Okay. Front door was out of the question. Unless he took them out first. He checked his gun, and tucked it back in his pants. These were men, not monsters. He eyed the house. There had to be another way in. Dean turned the cart and aimed for the back of the house.
There was another porch, and a door. That was nailed shut. Dean stopped the cart and sprinted across. The porch was falling apart, the boards rotted and collapsing.
The two windows that flanked the door looked promising. He sidled up to the house, peeking in to what appeared to be a kitchen. It was empty. Dean picked his way over the porch, freezing with each creak and groan, half expecting someone to come hurtling at him.
The window was warped and hard to move. It rumbled as he forced it up. It seemed odd that the back of the house was unguarded, but he supposed they didn’t expect anyone to survive long enough to get to it. Finally he had it open just enough to squeeze into.
The house was quiet. The kitchen didn’t look like it had been used in years. A thick layer of dust sat over everything. The same in the front room. He ducked as he neared the front door, though the glass was so dirty in the windows, all the men on the porch would see would be shadows and movement…and since Ash was already here…
Dean moved to the stairs, stepping lightly and hoping they didn’t make any noise. The hallway at the top was dark, but there was light coming from under one door. Dean paused at the door, listening. The sounds that greeted him gave him pause. Ash sounded as though…Dean closed his eyes. Ash was having sex…of some fashion.
He pulled his gun and reached for the door. Better to catch him with his pants down. He pushed the door open, gun held ready, and stepped inside. “Not a sound,” he said as Ash’s head came up off the mattress. A naked girl was kneeling on the floor between his feet, her mouth stretched around his cock.
Dean blinked, a vague thought echoing in the back of his mind. He couldn’t catch it though and it rambled away.
“Well, if it isn’t the prodigal slave.” Ash said, pushing the girl off him. His hand fisted in her hair and pulled her forward as he stood. Dean adjusted his stance and the gun. “Look familiar, slave? Get on your knees.”
Dean shook his head and took a deep breath. “Not on your life. Let go of the girl.”
Ash sneered at him. “It’s all in there you know? All I have to do is figure out how to trigger it.” He yanked on the girl again. “What are you?”
“Nothing. No one. Alone.” She spoke with no inflection, no emotion. Her voice flat and dead.
Nothing. No one. Alone. It rolled around in his head.
Ash was moving now. “Sound familiar, slave? You are nothing. You are no one. You are alone.”
Dean’s eyes flashed to his, the gun raised to point into his chest. “I may be nothing, Ash, but I’m not alone. Right now the entire hunting community that you betrayed is descending on this place. Right now, they’re out there rounding up your monstrosities and your brother.”
Ash’s eyes flashed with defiance. “You’re not going to kill me though, Dean. You’re a Winchester…don’t believe in killing people…only evil.”
“You don’t think people can be evil?” Dean asked, pushing Ash back toward the bed. “You don’t think you’re evil?”
Ash sort of shrugged, his hand leaving the girl’s hair and moving toward the night stand. “Stop. Hands where I can see them. You’re going to tell me what you did to my father, and how to reverse it.”
Ash laughed, tucking his cock back into his pants. “Why would I do that?”
Dean swallowed and stepped closer. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to hurt you.”
Ash laughed again and Dean struck, hitting him on the cheek with the butt of the gun. Ash’s eyes were dark and glittering when he turned back. “I have only got to yell, and this place will fill with men who will be all too willing to re-educate you in the proper behavior of a slave in the presence of his masters.”
“And you’ll be dead before they get here.” Dean said, his voice amazingly steady despite the turmoil inside him. “Tell me what I need to know.”
Ash smiled slightly, his hands rising in a gesture of surrender. “He’s been implanted with a series of devices that allow us full control of his body, and possessed with the spirit of a bear and with a high level demon. There isn’t much you can do. Cut off his head. Only way to really kill him. Anything less and the demon can keep the body animated.”
Dean’s stomach dropped. He was lying. He had to be lying. He wasn’t going to kill his father. “Tell me how to undo it.” Dean said, his jaw clenching.
Ash shook his head. “There is no way to undo it.”
“You’re lying.” Dean’s hand was starting to shake. Nothing. No One. Alone. “You’re lying.”
Ash shrugged. “So are you.” He pointed at the desk filled with computer equipment. “If your friends were all over this place, I’d know it.”
Dean gestured toward the desk. “Show me.”
Ash stood and went to the desk, bringing the six monitors to life with one touch. “Slow. Show me my father.”
Ash pressed a few buttons and the scene on one of the monitors changed. His father was getting up from a table in the medical clinic. “Where are they taking him?”
“Don’t know. Usually they get a few days in lockdown to let all the pieces acclimate. My uncle has a soft spot for your Dad…so he may be let loose into the populace early.”
His fingers moved over the keyboard and another monitor switched to show a cave like structure built from trees and shrubs. Several of the monsters could be seen. “We call it the zoo. Always a few casualties when someone new is added.”
His fingers flew again and another monitor changed, only this time it was Dean himself on the monitor. Dean naked and on the floor of a cage with some man’s cock up his ass. Ash laughed as Dean’s hand shook.
“Tell me what you are.” A second man was circling them, a whip in his hand. The Dean on the screen hung his head.
“Nothing. No one. Alone.”
Behind them, the girl whispered the words in response. “Louder Slave.”
“Nothing. No one. Alone.”
Dean pressed the gun into Ash’s temple. “Turn it off.” His voice was hard and cold and he wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in the man’s head.
“You sure? We’re just getting to the good part. When you say thank you to the man for fucking you.”
It felt like his stomach was going to explode. His head was reeling with unwanted memories. He closed his eyes briefly, then decided to end it himself. Dean brought the butt of the gun down on the back of Ash’s neck and he crumpled, sliding off the chair onto the floor. Dean kicked him once for good measure, then sat himself down at the computer system. He was no geek like Gabe, or even Sam, but maybe he could get a little information before he went out to find his father…and Caleb.
Sam ran. He knew there were things watching him, pacing him. They weren’t sure whether to attack or not. He ran without really knowing where. Dean had been here. Right here.
He stopped. He wasn’t sure how he knew. He just did. Dean and Caleb. He looked around him. There were eyes, staring down from the trees behind him. Whispers. He shook his head. He needed to concentrate. Focus. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. What good were these fucking “gifts” if he couldn’t figure out how to use them?
He opened his eyes. There were trails. Like the silvery wake Gabe had left behind. Dean and Caleb had moved together toward the nearest building. He blinked and they were gone.
He headed toward the building, ducking as he heard shots and shouts. Gabe and Allen and Bobby must have started. Focus. Dean first. He had to find Dean.
The door to the building opened and three men in lab coats came out, followed by something big and draped in bear skin. The bears claws were strapped onto its hands and feet. His breath caught in his throat as he realized. “Dad.” He breathed the word, saw the big man pause.
Then a fourth man emerged, carrying a device that looked like it was controlling his father. He handed it off to a man approaching. “Ryan, take our new bear down to the zoo. Let’s get him into fighting mode. Want to see what he’s made of.”
The man named Ryan nodded, taking the controller and he and John moved away. Sam bit his lip, watching the jerky motions. Twice John stopped and half turned toward Sam, then resumed. Sam watched him go and he knew he should find Dean, but he found himself following his father instead.
Caleb squatted and tried to catch his breath. Blood caked his hands from the thing he’d had to kill. Gordon was still tracking him, and he wasn’t alone. There were at least two more behind him, and who knew how many in front of him. He’d gotten turned around. The trees were denser here.
They hadn’t come this far into the property before. There was no way to hide with the blood covering his hands and clothes. The scent alone was going to attract them. He hoped Dean was making progress.
He had to keep moving. Just keep drawing them away from Dean. Hopefully Bobby and Allen had found a way in. He could hear Gordon again. He’d come to recognize the growl. He started forward, digging through the brush and stopping when his hand encountered something that was not wood or leaves or grass. Something metal. He pushed at the clinging greenery that disguised it.
He backed off a pace, looking around. It wasn’t big, but if he was far enough back in the property this could be the very thing Gabe had been trying to get them to. He worked his way around to the door. Of course it was locked.
They were getting close. He tried to mark the spot in his head and took off running again.
Gabe gave up on the gun pretty quickly, pulling a long blade out of his duffle. “Demons keep the body animated after they should be dead.” He shrugged apologetically at his father who was reloading his gun for the third time.
He swung the blade a little, wincing as the stitches in his arm tugged. He’d almost forgotten them. His father say the face. “You okay?”
“Just a scratch. Days old. I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t an ‘I’m fine’ face.”
Gabe rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Sam stitched it up days ago. Can we focus please?”
“Guys.” Bobby’s voice was soft, but it cut through their banter. “We aren’t alone.”
Gabe looked where Bobby was looking. “This sucks.” He adjusted his grip on the blade handle and advanced slowly. There was no telling how many they would have to kill to get to Caleb or Dean…or John or Sam…not to mention Ash and Andrew.
To make matters worse, he wasn’t really sure which should be their priority. As two of the techno-serkers attacked he decided his priority was not getting killed. Everything else could wait.
Sam watched the man with the controller direct his father into a grove of trees. Sam picked his way around watching in fascination as whatever control was being exerted on his father was release.
John dropped instantly to a crouch of sorts, his head up, sniffing the air. Others appeared slowly out of the dense trees and brush. Ryan held a tranquilizer gun now, the controller slung around on a strap over one shoulder.
Sam wanted to get his hands on both. He contemplated jumping him, but any movement would take him across the mouth of the opening, exposing him to the growing number of creatures inside. There was a roar and Sam looked back to where his father was charging at another one, his claws flashing, slashing and the other one whimpered as it fell, bleeding from the stomach and neck.
There was screaming, inhuman and terrifying. One by one they challenged him…three, then four fell…then they were backing off, some licking wounds, some showing signs of submission. He roared again, up on his feet. The sound echoed around them.
Ryan chuckled and raised a radio. “Subject delivered to the zoo. He’s fabulous.” He stuck the radio in a pocket and headed away from the grove. “You kids play nice now.”
Sam saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and almost stood up to shout. His father was on top of Ryan in seconds, his claws emerging out the front of him. Ryan fell forward, John riding him to the ground. He sniffed the air, turning right to where Sam was hiding.
His head cocked to the side, his eyes burned yellow and Sam’s stomach sank. “No.”
“I can smell you Sammy.” It said.
Sam stood. There was a gun in his hand, but both he and the demon knew he wouldn’t use it. “He’s angry Sammy…wants you to run away…wants you to put a bullet in his head.”
“Maybe I will.” Sam took a few steps forward, sparing a glance into the grove. There were at least ten of them in there, all gathering to watch.
“No…you won’t hurt Daddy.”
“I’m going to send you back to hell.” Sam said.
“Not with that little gun. But I tell you what Sammy…I’ll make a deal with you.”
“I don’t deal with demons.”
The thing made his father’s face pout. “No? Don’t you even want to hear my terms?”
Sam shook his head. “Get the fuck out of him.”
“You sure? You ready for your father as a full on berserker? You’d have to kill him then. You ready for that?”
It stood, licking the man’s blood from the claws and leaving a smear of blood over his father’s face. “I kinda like it in here…all this rage and fury…makes me feel at home.”
The others were advancing now. Sam’s head was starting to pound. He growled and adjusted his grip on the gun. “Come away with me Sammy, and I’ll make sure that Daddy and big brother Dean are a-okay.”
Sam shook his head. “You killed my mother.”
Sam watched him blink…the yellow gone, replaced by the liquid chocolate of his father’s. “Sam…Sam…”
He lowered the gun and stepped closer, then his father screamed, “Run!” and his eyes went blank and dark and Sam only missed getting clawed by inches as the bear was back. He ran, not looking back as his father and the others followed.
Dean watched the monitors as they cycled through the various security cameras around the property. He caught a glimpse of Caleb at one point, still evading Gordon, and he thought he saw Sam, but he was gone before Dean could refocus the camera.
“Okay….show me something useful. Oh.” The bottom monitor brought up a map. Red dots seemed to mark the creatures, moving around the property. One of the security screens switched and he saw Gabe and Allen fighting for their lives. Then Bobby was there with the biggest fucking gun Dean had ever seen, blowing the head clean off the thing.
Beside him on the floor Ash was stirring. Dean kicked him again, then his eyes flicked up at the girl. He’d forgotten she was even there. “Hey…um…it’s okay.” Her eyes were wide with fear and they moved between Ash and Dean. “He’s not going to hurt you.”
She didn’t seem to understand that, bowing her head. “It is his right to hurt me if he chooses. He is my master.”
Dean shook his head. Nothing. No one. Alone. He swallowed. “No. He isn’t. He’s just an asshole of a computer hacker. He has no right to hurt you.”
“He is my master. I must obey.”
Dean closed his eyes. The image of himself on his knees filled his mind. He pushed it away. “You’re free. Do you…can you remember your name?”
She bowed forward even further. “I am nothing. No one. Alone.”
“I know that chorus. I’ve said it myself. But I am someone. I am Dean.” He stepped over Ash and lowered himself to his knees in front of her. He lifted her face with one hand under her chin. “You are someone. Someone I’d very much like to know.”
“You…you…” She didn’t lift her eyes to his. Dean spotted the mark, an “M” carved into her left breast. Licking his lips, he raised his shirt and showed her the “S” on his own chest.
“I was like you.” Dean said softly.
“Isn’t this touching.” Ash said behind him. Dean whirled and slammed a fist into his face. Ash slumped back to the floor and Dean shook his head.
“I don’t have time for this.” He looked around the room for something to tie him up, settling on ripping the sheet off the bed into strips. He made quick work of his ankles and wrists, then shoved a wad of material into his mouth and gagged him. “I have to go out there and find my brother. You stay inside. It’s safer here. When I’m done, I’ll come back for you. Do you understand?”
Her face was painted with fear. “Do you understand?”
She cringed, her eyes stealing to Ash. “Are you…my master now?”
Dean stepped back, starting to shake his head. “Yes. Yes. If that means you’ll listen to me.”
She nodded slowly, but was clearly far from convinced. “Stay here. Don’t let him loose. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can.”
He spotted the tranquilizer gun by the door. He lifted it and checked the chamber. It had a single dart in it. “Does he have more ammo for this?”
She nodded and pointed at the closet. “Right. Okay. Stay. I’ll be back.”
Sam barreled through the trees, his large curved knife in his hands now. He’d already used it on some of the faster ones, cutting through limbs and stomachs. It wasn’t killing them, but with any luck was slowing them down.
Then, he found Caleb…bowling him over and sending them crashing into leaves and brush. When they’d stopped rolling, Sam pulled back, panting. “Caleb?”
He nodded. “You okay?”
Sam shook his head. “Don’t know. Where’s Dean?”
“Don’t know.”
There was a low growl. “Gordon.” Caleb said.
“Gordon?” There was a deeper growl. “Dad.”
Caleb shook his head. “This is really not how I planned to spend my day.”
“Gabe’s supposed to be finding a way to shut them down.”
“Gabe’s here?”
Sam nodded, gasping air. “Left him with Allen and Bobby.”
“I know where the power center is.”
“I can lead them away. You go find Gabe.” He pointed in the direction he’d last known Gabe was.
“That’s suicide.” Caleb countered. “We’re better off if we stick together.”
Sam shook his head. “No. I’m better alone. Trust me on this. Lay low and give me a few minutes to get their attention.”
Caleb reached for him, but Sam was too fast, yelling and crashing through the brush. Caleb ducked, covering his head as the sound of stampeding feet rushed past him. “Fucking Winchesters.”
Caleb counted to ten, then set off, back tracking toward the grove where he and Gabe had encountered the berserker. He wasn’t quite there when he heard the sounds of battle. There was a sickening crunch and semi-automatic gunfire. Then Gabe’s voice. “Dad!”
He stood from his cover and rounded the tree, gun held at ready. Gabe was on his knees beside a bloodied Allen with Bobby standing watch. “Gabe?”
Gabe’s eyes came up and he was on his knees and across the clearing in seconds, his arms wrapped around Caleb’s body in a crushing hug. “Are you okay? Are you…fuck, Caleb!” Gabe shoved him back, his relief at seeing Caleb alive fading under his anger at having to worry at all. “What the fuck were you thinking? You…you…”
Caleb cupped a hand to Gabe’s cheek, drawing him closer, forgetting the other men and the danger in his need to reassure him. “I’m okay, Gabe. I’m fine. All in one piece and everything.” He might have kissed him but for Bobby clearing his throat.
“Nice to see you, Caleb.”
Gabe rolled his eyes and stepped back. Allen was sitting up. The front of his shirt was ripped and bloody but he appeared to be okay. “I’ve put down two. Injured a bunch more.”
“We’ve taken out about three…we think.” Bobby said. “Two for sure. We lost track of the other one.”
Caleb nodded. “They’ve monsterfied John.”
“You’ve seen him?” Bobby asked.
Caleb shook his head, looking back over his shoulder. “No. Sam has though. Ran into him a ways back.” He clapped a hand to Gabe’s shoulder. “Found what you were looking for last time we were here.”
“Control room?” Gabe asked.
Caleb shrugged. “Only thing out this far that isn’t natural. Metal walls, locked door. Figured you’d want to see it.”
Gabe nodded. “We stick together. Strength in numbers.”
“Not going to find me arguing.” Allen said. Caleb thought Allen looked at him funny, but brushed it off.
“Okay then. Follow me.”
Dean had roughly twenty darts in the beat up messenger bag he’d found in Ash’s closet, as he climbed into the cart and pointed it in the direction of the largest concentration of red dots on the map. Knowing his father, even in his currently altered state, that would be where he would find him…and is he could neutralize a few other targets on the way, so be it.
He went past the barn and headed toward the tree line. He had to abandon the cart. He just had to keep a dart to use on his father. Put him down and hope they could figure out a way to reverse what had been done to him.
He’d gone through half the box when he found himself with his back pressed against the trunk of a massive oak tree, trying to load the next dart with a hyena possessed woman snarling at him, her hands wrapped around the gun. He let go with one hand and punched her hard in the face, then wrenching the gun free. He got the dart in and the gun turned, but her partner pounced and he was face first in the dirt.
He yelled as claws dug into his shoulder. The woman on his back laughed. The other one lunged forward, biting at him and getting a hold on his upper arm. Dean rolled, trying to keep his grip on the gun, but it fell from his fingers.
He lashed out with an elbow, hitting one of them in the face. She yelped as he scrambled to his feet and dove for the gun. He nailed the one charging at him with a dart to the stomach and she slumped to the ground. The other one circled warily, watching as he loaded another dart. He lifted the gun and she ran. He shot anyway, hoping to catch her in the back to keep her off his trail.
There was a scream and he smirked. “That’s right, bitch-“
He didn’t finish as Gordon came crashing through the brush, his face wet with blood. His eyes found Dean and he growled. “Okay…nice kitty.” Dean reached into the bag for another dart, watching Gordon prowl toward him. “Caleb says your name is Gordon.”
It was still coming, and Dean’s fingers fumbled trying to get the dart loaded. Dean looked down and Gordon charged. Dean dropped, stiff-arming the gun up to hold Gordon off him. “Bad kitty.”
They struggled for a minute, then Gordon’s weight was lifted. Dean looked up to find his father holding Gordon, growling. Dean crawled backwards, trying to get out from under them. His father roared and tossed Gordon aside. Gordon hit the ground and didn’t move. Dean froze as he felt those eyes on him, his father’s body, the bear’s skin…and yellow glowing eyes…”Dad?”
“Right there.” Allen pointed over his son’s shoulder.
Gabe slapped at his hand. “I see it. The question is, delete it or hack it?”
Allen rubbed his chin. “If we disable it, that leaves them all free to attack.”
“They’re pretty much going to kill us if we leave them like they are.” Gabe said, his fingers flying over the keyboard. He glanced up at Caleb standing guard with Bobby at the door. “I’m kind of surprised I haven’t set off a bunch of hidden sentries.”
“Maybe you have and everyone’s so busy they don’t have time to deal with it. Try that.” He pointed to a file and Gabe nodded.
“Uplink to the controllers. If we had controllers that might be worth something.” He chewed on his lip and went back to the command file. “I say we hack it. Might take longer, but it might mean we can shut them all down.”
“Then I suggest you get busy. I don’t know how much more we can handle.” Bobby said.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah, right.” He exhaled slowly and started working his way into the file.
“Okay, Dad…I realize you’re having a really bad day…” Dean used a tree behind him to pull himself up to his feet.
“Daddy’s a little busy right now, Dean.”
“Shit.” Dean’s fingers were numb now, blood running down his arm from the bite and the bleeding from his cut up arm, since the wrestling on the ground had broken it open.
“I was hoping we could be a big happy family, once Sammy came to his senses, but I can see that the only way I can make Sammy see his place is if you’re dead.”
Finally. The dart slipped and he cocked the gun, only to find it ripped from his hands. Then he was being pulled, his feet dragging through the dirt. A bloody, dirty hand closed around his throat and lifted him from his feet.
“No!” Sam’s voice reverberated around them. Dean could feel it inside him, echoing in his head. “No. Put him down. It’s me you want.”
Dean could see Sam now, approaching slowly. The demon turned John’s body, made his face into a sickly smile. “Well hello there Sammy. We were just talking about you.”
“Put my brother down.”
“Come with me.”
Dean’s vision was starting to fade. He was going to pass out. He clawed at the hand holding him. “Got Ash, Sammy.” He choked the words out. Sam nodded, but didn’t take his eyes off of their father.
Sam had a book in his hands now. Dean could see it. He was speaking in Latin. The demon laughed. “Gonna send me back to hell, Sammy?”
“Put my brother down and we’ll negotiate.”
“Maybe I’ll just take him with me.” He ran, and hit a barrier between the two oak trees. He stumbled backward, losing his grip on Dean and landing in a heap at Sam’s feet.
Sam’s smile was nearly frightening. “I’m starting to figure all this out, you sick fuck. Now, get the hell out of my father.”
It was laughing, wiping blood from his face as it pulled itself upright. “I kind of like it in here.”
“Like this?” Gabe asked, rewriting the code as his father nodded.
Allen held one of the controllers that he’d found in a storage locker. “Good, it’s uploading.”
“So we have something resembling a plan?” Bobby asked.
Allen nodded. “We use this to herd them all into one place, some place we can lock down. Then we figure out how to get the demons and animal spirits out.”
“The medical clinic had locks on the doors.” Caleb said, but Gabe was already shaking his head.
“Barn…it’s got cages.” He looked up and Caleb nodded agreement. “Hang on. I can…” Gabe’s tongue hung out of his mouth as he manipulated more of the code. “I disabled all the other controllers but this one.”
“All right then, looks like we’re ready. Caleb, you’re on point. Bobby, watch our backs. Gabe and I will work the controller.”
“Billy, how’s our progress?” Andrew stood in the doorway of Bill’s office and Bill looked up from his notes to check the computer screen.
“He’s put down a half dozen. Mostly lesser animals. He killed Ryan.”
“He what?”
Bill shook his head. “He’s organized them into packs.” He frowned at the computer and punched a few keys. “That’s odd.”
Andrew waited for a moment then prodded. “What’s odd?”
“Not responding.”
“Who isn’t?”
“None of them are responding. I’ve got clumps, Gordon and a couple other cats are out near the Ring. Winchester’s in the Ring. There’s a handful close to the barn and two more groups near the zoo. There’s more dead than I thought.”
“How many?”
Bill squinted at the screen. “At least a dozen are dead or down.” He reached for a radio. “Ash, if you’re done with your blow job, we need you down here.”
There was no answer. “Ash.” He shook his head. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Andrew left the office and grabbed the first tech to pass him. “I want someone up to the house to bring my nephew down here.”
He turned as Bill came out of the office. “I’ve called in the handlers and guards. Sent them to round the animals up and lock down the zoo.”
“You think we’re under attack?”
“You did say someone had come looking for Winchester, right?”
“It was just two men.”
“It’s probably more now. You remember how they came at Dad in Austin…or for that matter how they came for the two boys. Maybe we should have taken a lesson.”
“I didn’t go after Winchester. He came to us.” Andrew said. “I thought he’d make an excellent assassin…like Gordon.”
Bill raised an eyebrow. “Gordon still isn’t predictable, even when he’s under direct control.”
“But he did those two kills clean.”
Bill nodded. The door burst open and one of the handlers fell through, holding his bleeding thigh. “We’ve lost control. They’re attacking.”
There was a low growl and Gordon limped in, slashing at the man until he fell in bloody shreds to the floor. “Billy?”
Bill backed up a step. “He’s hurt. In the office.” He kept his movements slow, his eyes on Gordon. Andrew moved in tandem. The just reached the door to the office when Gordon pounced.
“Sam?”
“Get behind me Dean and stay out of his reach.”
“What are you doing?”
Sam was sweating under the effort to not succumb to the pain building in his head and holding up the barrier…he’d done it before to protect himself…without thinking, without knowing what he was doing. This time, he’d wished it and it came.
“I’m trying to exorcise this bastard.”
“It’s not enough.” Dean said, his hand on Sam’s back.
“It’s a start.”
“It will make him savage.”
“He’s already savage, Dean. He’s a fucking demon. He’s THE fucking demon.”
Sam felt Dean shiver behind him. “He’s what?”
“That yellow eyed fuck killed out mother Dean. And in my dream he killed you. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“You can’t kill him, Sam.”
Sam shuddered, the image of both of them dead filling his mind. “If it means saving you I can.”
“No. Sam. It’s Dad.”
Sam shook his head. “Dad’s…” He adjusted his grip on the knife. The demon was circling the barrier, looking for a weakness. Sam shook his head again and resumed the Latin. Dean jumped from behind him.
“Not going to let you kill him Sam.”
“Dean, get the fuck out of the way!” Sam lunged forward, just as John’s body whirled toward Dean, his eyes gone black, his claws extended. “Dean!”
Giant claws raked over Dean’s stomach and he staggered backward, holding the wound and looking surprised. Then John lurched and Sam came to a screeching halt beside Dean, the book dropped, the knife forgotten as he pulled Dean to him.
The ground rumbled as John’s body collapsed, two tranquilizer darts sticking out of his thigh. It was just like his dream, only neither of them was dead. “Dean?”
Dean smiled weakly. “Now you can finish your damn exorcism.”
Sam shook his head. “After I take care of you.”
“I’m fine…just a scratch…three scratches. Deep scratches…but I’m fine.”
“No, Dean…you’re hurt. He’s out. I’ll come back for him.”
Dean took a deep breath and sat up. “Now.”
“It’ll only come back.” Sam said softly, his bravado slipping.
“What?”
“The demon. It wants me. It came after me at the church. It…has something to do with the dreams…and other stuff.”
“So it comes back. We’ll deal with it then. For now, I want my father back.”
“There’s still the bear.”
Dean conceded that point. “So get the bear too.”
Sam bit his lip. “I don’t know if a regular exorcism will do it.”
“Try.”
Sam nodded and picked the book back up, then rummaged in his bag for the bottle of holy water. His father’s body convulsed as he sprinkled it with the water and started to recite the Latin short form.
Gabe worked the controller to guide two more of the creatures into a large cage in the barn while his father examined the circle in the center of the floor. “They’ve done some dark stuff here.”
“I’ve got another one just a few hundred yards from here.” Gabe said, looking up from the controller and pointing.
“The clinic is that way.” Caleb said. Together they trotted in that direction. The dot stopped moving, then altered course and came their way.
“Gordon.”
Gabe looked up. He’d lost his animal skin somewhere along the way, but not the claws. He was covered in blood. “He’s not responding.” Gabe said. “I’m sending commands to go to the barn and he’s not moving.”
“He’s not attacking either.” Caleb said.
Gabe shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense.”
Suddenly, Gordon cocked his head and then hissed, charging toward them, then roaring past to tackle a man in a lab coat, eviscerating him in seconds. When he looked up, he was licking the man’s blood from his claws.
“I’m gonna be sick.” Gabe said, turning away.
“We can’t leave him loose.” Caleb took a step toward Gordon who moved off the corpse and squatted, as if waiting for Caleb.
“He seems to like you.” They both turned at the sound of Ash’s voice. He too was covered with blood, coming out of the clinic. “Think you’re clever little boy? Think you’re smarter than me?” In his hands was a larger controller.
“Give it up Ash, it’s over.” Caleb said. Beside him Gordon was growling.
“It’s only over when everyone is dead.” Ash said. “Let’s start with you two.” He worked a control and Gordon’s growl shifted. “Then I’ll take care of the rest of your friends.”
Inside the barn they could hear the others, screaming, fighting, rattling the bars. Gordon shifted from foot to foot, his eyes skipping from Caleb to Ash and back. A shot rang out and Ash staggered back, then ducked behind the building.
Allen came running, with Bobby behind him, but before they could follow him, Gordon took off. Ash appeared moments later, running for the barn. There was screaming and Gabe turned a little green.
“I don’t think we want to be standing here when Gordon’s done in there.” Caleb said.
Allen nodded. “How many more?”
Gabe looked down at the screen. “One. The others are either in the barn or dead.”
“John?” Bobby asked.
Gabe shrugged. “One way to find out.” He pointed. “It’s a hike.”
John felt it the moment the demon left his body…felt it claw to stay inside, to hold on to him…felt it tear at him. The bear went more quietly in comparison, its raw fury at being stuffed inside him echoing around his head even after it was gone.
He was far from empty though. He could feel every blade of grass under his body, the sticky mess of bear skin and blood covering him. He could feel the stitches in his neck and back…and under them, he could feel the bits of plastic and wire and metal.
He opened his eyes slowly. Sam was sitting duly beside him. Dean was sprawled in the grass nearby, his stomach bleeding. John had a vague memory of his own hand making the wound and looked down. His hands were bound inside bear claws. He lifted them trying to cut the claws off, trying to free himself.
Sam stirred. “Dad?” He blinked. “Stop…you’re going to hurt yourself. Stop.” His hands closed over John’s and John had to blink back tears.
“Get them off.” He grunted it and Sam nodded, looking around him for his knife, then slicing through the bindings.
John sat up shakily. His body hurt in ways and places he couldn’t understand. His broken ankle throbbed, probably broken worse than it had been. He shouldn’t even be alive. He looked at Dean.
Sam nodded. “Passed out. Just before the demon…” Sam looked like he was ready to pass out himself.
John felt himself stiffen, felt compelled to move away from Sam. Sam gasped and turned. “Gabe?”
Gabe and Caleb were followed by Allen and Bobby. “It’s okay…he’s okay.” Sam said. Gabe nodded and released the controller.
“You okay?” Bobby asked.
Sam shook his head. “Don’t know. Dean needs help.”
“Sam?” John reached for him, but he pulled away.
“Not yet…it…I need to…” Sam staggered to his feet, his breathing ragged. He stumbled a few feet away and fell to his knees, screaming and holding his head. John climbed to his knees to go to him, but Gabe stopped him.
“Give him a minute.”
“He’s going to pass out.”
Gabe nodded. “And when he does, we’ll carry his tall ass back to the car and pump him full of enough sedative that he’ll actually sleep without the fucking dreams…and maybe when he wakes up he’ll have this thing under control.”
“Thing?” John watched as Sam slumped to the side, and rolled onto his back, out cold. “What’s going on with Sam?”
Gabe shook his head. “There’ll be time for that later. For now…I think we’re best served just getting the hell out of here…getting you and Dean to the nearest hospital.”
John looked up at the young man. “You know a lot more than you’re telling me.”
Gabe smiled and nodded. “I usually do.”
Caleb was working with Bobby to lift Sam. Allen was pulling a rousing Dean to his feet. Gabe held out his hand to help John up. “Do you know where we’re going?”
Gabe chuckled and nodded. “I do…though I’m told that the destination doesn’t matter as much as the journey to get there.”
John snorted. “In this case, I hope the journey is short and uneventful.” They limped out of the circle of oak trees, though John felt as though there were eyes following them. It wasn’t far to a golf cart. They stopped by the barn and Allen and Bobby ran inside, coming out with a shake of their heads.
The clinic brought the same result. Nothing was left alive. John didn’t even argue when they lifted him out of the cart and put him in the car. Didn’t fight when they pulled into the ER. Sam was awake as they put John in the wheel chair, his eyes a little haunted, but he offered John a smile. “I’ll be in to see you in a bit.”
John thought about some of the images the demon had left behind as he watched his son pull himself together. Maybe most of the time it was about the journey. But sometimes, no matter what the journey brought, the destination was the same.