Survive, Boy, Survive

Chapter 6

Dean came in,
Sam said" Hey."
Dean said" Hey."
" You look like you've s- Well, I was gonna sat, you look like you've seen a ghost, but you'd probably be stoked. Uh, you okay?"
" Yeah, I'm cook. What's up?"
" Well, this kid went missing from a preschool."
" That sucks. And?"
" And at the same time he vanished, a surprise tornado hit, lasted maybe 20 seconds then, uh... shazam! Back to perfect weather."
" Hmm. And they pooh-pooh climate change."
" Yeah. Well, similar wackiness has happened over the past few weeks in other places- uh, Tulsa, a bus driver vanishes and a river gets overrun with frogs. New Mexico- A mailman disappears, the earth splits open."
" All right. So, uh, you thinking demons?"
" Yeah, possibly, but... I mean, this stuff was major. These folks have nothing in common- No religious affiliations, different hometowns, all ages. Why would demons want them?"
" Why do demons want anything? Uh, so, we on this?"
" Yep."

I whined as I was jolted out of my sleep,
I heard Sam whisper" Don't you dare wake him up." Dean shushes him, then I was carried, I settled in his arms, nearly falling back to sleep.
Dean whispered" And..." He started putting me down, then I was on a bed, I rolled over, grabbing a pillow in my hand, nuzzling against it." He's still down." I fell back to sleep.

I screamed as the black smoke slammed me into a tree, I pushed off the tree and fell to the ground, which was a good 6 feet beneath me. I yelped, then looked at my wrist, tears brimmed my eyes, I breathed heavily. The ground started quaking,
I mumbled" No, no, no..." I tried to stand up but the shakes just knocked me down again. I screamed" No!" A blast wave of energy tore through me as my eyes glowed bright purple. I saw trees bend the way of the blast, for at least 10 trees, I gulped then dropped to my side, no, no, no. Atomic. I panted, then pulled myself up against a stump, my eyes rolled back, but I kept myself up." It's okay, it's okay, it's okay..." Then I felt the energy again, I cried out-

I was grabbed, I screamed, my eyes glowing as black smoke started swirling up my arms.
I heard Dean say" Whoa, whoa, hey, power down, it's all right." My mind focused, and I saw Dean in front of me, his hands on my shoulders. I squeezed my eyes shut, powering down, I slumped against his arm." You okay, buddy?" I dug my face into his chest, he sighed, as I gripped his shirt." Alright, you wanna talk about it?"
I mumbled" Control was the hardest at first... the black smoke was too strong, it didn't listen to me. It'd beat me up, till I was too weak to move."
" But you've got control now, right?"
" Yeah."
" Well, that's good. Bet you caused some trouble, huh?"
" Only to monsters and bad people."
" Bad people?"
" There was this one man, he was taking little kids away from their families, so I stopped him."
" Buddy, how'd you stop him?"
" I made him be found."
" Good job, bud. How about you try and get some more sleep? You're barely clocking in 6 hours every other day."
" Okay, De." He moved away from me, I curled up, nuzzling my face in the pillow then held out my arm. He sat next to me, then I felt his hand holding mine, I closed my eyes, drifting back off.
———
Sam said" Hey, so it's not just Americans who are vanishing. Uh, this guy, Luigi Ponzi disappeared walking between two subway cars in Rome. And right above ground, there was a freak hail storm."
Dean said" So, we going to Rome? Wouldn't be too shabby."

Cas showed up,
Sam said" Unbelievable, man. I-I cannot believe it. You're actually here."
Cas said" Yeah, I've been trying to reach out. But for whatever reason, I wasn't at full power. So I couldn't connect with you."
" That must've been why you kept seeing him. I mean, you think?"
Dean said" Yeah. Yeah, uh, I got to be honest. I-I-I'm thinking, how the hell did you make it out? I mean, I-I was there. I-I-I know that place. I know how we had to scratch and claw and kill and bleed to find that portal and make it through it, and it almost finished me. So, uh..." He scoffed, I looked at them," So how exactly are you sitting here with us right now?"
Cas said" Dean, everything you just said is completely true. And that's the strange part. I... have no idea. I remember endlessly running and hiding from leviathan, and then I was on the side of the road in Illinois. And... that was it."
" And that- That was it?"
" Yes. Oh. I'm dirty."
" Yeah, well, purgatory will do that to you." He walked to the bathroom,
Sam said" Dean?"
" Huh?"
" You all right?" Dean sat down,
" You do see something severely wrong here, right? Sammy, I remember every second of leaving that place. I mean, I remember the heat, the stink, the pain, the fear. I have that whole ugly mess right here, and he says he has no idea how he got out? I-I'm just not buying it."
" So, you think he's lying?"
" I'm saying something else happened. I saw the shape that he was in. I mean, there was no way he was fighting his ass out alone. No way."
" All right. So, who... or what got him out?"
" Exactly." Then Cas came out of the bathroom,
He said" Better?" He was back in his regular outfit.

Dean walked in,
He said" What's the latest?"
Sam said" The latest is nothing. It's like it all stopped. No freak disappearances linked to any freak natural events."
" So how many have we got, seven?"
" Yeah, uh, Luigi, Justin, Aaron, Maria-"
Cas said" Maria, Dennis, Krista, Sven. I missed television."
" Wait, Cas. How did you know those are the names?"
" Well, they're prophets."
Dean said" Prophets?"
" Yeah, angels instinctively know the names of every prophet- Past, present, and future."
" So this list is the name of every one of 'em that exists?"
" Yes, until the next generation is born. Plus Kevin Tran, of course. The other seven are future prophets, since, uh, only one can exist at a time."
Sam said" How is Kevin a prophet if Chuck is a prophet?"
" I'm not sure what happened to Chuck, but, um... he must be dead."
Dean said" So, the next one comes off the bench if Kevin goes down?"
" Exactly. And they have no idea who they are, of course."
Sam said" Crowley."
Dean said" Insurance. Boy, he's getting desperate."
" Explains all the weird phenomena. Lower-level demons nabbing heavy-duty cargo. The vessels of god's word- Boom."
Cas said" I get the feeling something's going on." Sam's phone rang,
" Hello. Ms. Tran?! Well, where the hell have you... what?" He stood up, I got off the counter," Crowley's got Kevin."

We were waiting for Ms. Tran,
Dean said" Where the hell is she?"
Sam said" She'll be here. Look, mile marker 96 was kind of the halfway point."
" Cas, can I talk to you outside?" He got out then Cas got out, my head dropped and I started falling asleep.
———
We pulled up to an abandoned factory, Dean killed the demon that Ms. Tran grabbed and we headed in.

Dean killed a demon,
Sam said" All right. I'll check that way." I followed him, my eyes glowing, Cas and Dean went the other way.

We saw a lot of demons, I looked at Sam, he grabbed my shoulder and we kept moving. We got down to where they all were, then stopped in front of them,
One said" Winchesters."
Sam said" Looks like you guys got us." He threw down the demon bomb, and they were killed instantly.
I said" We need more of those." We walked to the door, Sam went to kick it down, I stared at it, and it busted open, Sam looked at me." Come on."

We walked into the room, there was blood everywhere,
Sam said" Oh, no." Then people peeked up from under the table," Hey. Uh... I'm here to help."

We were outside, they found Kevin, we got the people out, now police were on the way and Garth was gonna set Kevin and Ms. Tran up. Sam and I walked over to Dean and Cas,
Sam said" Hey. Everything okay?"
Cas said" Yeah. Just, uh... setting a few things straight."
" Good. Garth is gonna lay low with the Tran family while we track down the other piece. You're with us on this one, right, Cas? Cas, you okay?"
" I'm-I'm fine. And yes, I'm with you- if that's all right." He walked away,
" It is, right? You two are good?"
Dean said" Yeah."