Five Seconds Later

Chapter Eight: The Virus

"It's everywhere." 

Sam stood up, letting his chair fall back against the floor. All who were there at dinner were ripped from their conversations by his interruption and began to listen. 

"The virus is everywhere in the world. It started in China, then spread throughout Asia without being detected. It came to America and it was noticed, but deemed harmless. After it spread to South America, Europe, and Africa, patients began exhibiting severe symptoms."

"Like?" Bobby asked incredulously, pulling his hat from its resting place on the table and putting it back on his head.

"The ill began to crave eating human flesh." Sam paused, reading from the paper in his hand. "This is from a research study last month I got from the CDC website. Their organs began to fail and they had extremely high amounts of fever and nausea. They began to inexplicably die at various rates, the shortest being in six hours and the longest, a week, after the symptoms began to be exhibited. Then came the strange part. Once they had died, it would take anywhere from five minutes to two full days for them to do what the CDC described as 'turn.' When this happened, the corpse would reanimate itself and attack any living person nearby with the intent to eat them."

"So... they're not our regular kind of zombies?" Dean queried from his nearby seat, mouth full of refried beans. Everyone else had sat there in shock, unable to process what was being told to them, while Dean had continued to eat his dinner. Cas shot him a look, which was returned with a knowing smile.

"No, but they're similar. The zombies we have encountered were dead people, but they had no infection or illness that had reanimated or killed them. They were brought back with a necromancy spell, did not wish to eat other people, and it was never on a scale such as this."

"What are we going to do about it?" Jo, who had been silent thus far, piped up. She smoothed back her long, blond hair so that it was out of her face.

"This isn't like any apocalypse that we've encountered." Sam folded up the paper and set it back on the table. "It's on such a large scale that even if we were to somehow terminate all of the infected in America, the rest of the world would still be dealing with it and we would be prone to infection."

"I say we try to survive." Dean took another scoop of the beans and began to chew them slowly. "We should go out and gather as many materials as we can now, after we make a list of what we need. We should get gas too. And bikes. Something tells me both will be in short supply soon."

"Are there any farms nearby?" Ellen asked with a frown. "Once this shit goes down, it might be nice to get some farm animals and seeds, to make our food supply less expendable."

"There's one about five miles out and another one about eight. It'd be worth the trip." Garth agreed, adjusting his cowboy hat. "I'll head out with you in the morning."

"Some of the stores have already been ransacked. There's only a few still open." Kevin reminded them. "It's been about a week, a week and a half, and half of the US population is infected or already turned. The other half are freaking out. All schools are closed, money is losing its value, etc. Everyone is in flight mode – we need to get as much as we can now. Bring money, in case the store is open and we need to pay."

"Tomorrow, Ellen and Garth can head out with Bobby to the farms and take back what they can. Is there a trailer we can hitch up to the truck?" Sam asked, looking around the table.

Bobby nodded, relaxed enough to begin eating again. "I saw an abandoned one down the road about a mile on my way back."

"Jo, you and I can head out tomorrow toward the east; Dean, you and Cas can go west." Sam sat down confidently, looking around the circle of people before him. "Kevin, Meg, and Charlie, you guys can stay and take inventory of what we have."

"I can come with you guys." Charlie crossed her arms disapprovingly. Sam shook his head, apologetic.

"Not this time, Charlie. You're needed here." He shot a knowing glance at Kevin who was already beginning to hyperventilate. Having severe anxiety didn't appear to be a valuable trait for surviving the apocalypse. He added under his breath, "Someone needs to protect Kevin."

***

It was late when Cas heard his door open, but he wasn't sure of the time. It might have been midnight, it might have been 5 AM, but the clock on his bedside table wasn't functioning properly. The creaking of the door, however insignificant, rose him from his light slumber in a matter of moments. He was an angel – he never slept. Sometimes he closed his eyes and pretended as though he was dreaming, like he had when he was briefly human, but it was hard for him. 

He sat upright, the pillows creasing and blankets rustling. In the light that shafted in from the open door stood the tall and defined shadow of Dean. 

"What is it?" Cas moved to stand and reached for his trench coat, which was folded up on a chair beside the bed.

"I just wanted to talk." Dean came in without invitation and closed the door behind him. Cas switched on the bedside lamp, which cast an eerie glow around the room.

"About?" Cas sat at the edge of his bed, arm still suspended in midair to reach for his coat. He let himself relax.

"Us."

"Us?" Cas tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, as though he were tired. He was never truly tired – only wearied. "What about... us?"

"Is there or isn't there?" Dean continued to stand by the doorway, every inch of body language indicating his utter discomfort.

"Do you want there to be?" Cas adjusted the tie that was still knotted around the collar of his white business shirt.

"I mean..." Dean seemed to be finding it difficult to parse his words properly. "I- we... we can't be doing this thing, where we just randomly make out or dance in the kitchen together or... it just needs to be all or nothing."

"I'd be okay with that." Cas smiled, sliding back beneath the covers. "Would you?"

"Yes." Dean turned and opened the door just a crack, pausing to take a breath. "I really would. But Sam and the others – especially Jo – won't get it. Just... let's not bring it up, okay?"

Cas nodded in agreement, and Dean waited one moment more before disappearing down the hallway.