Five Seconds Later

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Darkness

The slice of pie that Cas had offered to Dean on two separate occasions was left uneaten on the table for days. It withstood the test of time, the fruit within it so preserved, it failed to change color or wither into rot. It was as though everyone in the bunker simultaneously understood its significance, allowing it to reside there on the table until Dean could come out and eat it.

Cas felt frozen in the center of it all, the rest of the world rotating around him at a dizzying pace. Garth, Tyler, and Bobby went out on daily runs with Alex, who was slowly warming up to life in the bunker. Claire, Mandy, Anaise, and Lacey were busy with securing the fence, which they had been working on for months now since Sam and Charlie began it. There was a real concern that the herd of walkers from Wichita had been moving in the direction of the bunker this whole time, and they needed the fence to be strong enough to keep them out until they passed. Charlie was helping Katharine with the inventory to make sure she didn't strain herself, and Sam spent every spare second with Jess, who still hadn't left her room.

It was a week after Gabriel had left that Cas could be found sitting in the hallway across from the door of Dean's room. His eyes were scanning the wood for any signs of movement, and for any who bothered to observe, it had been hours now of Cas just sitting there, waiting in silence.

"Cas, you alright?" Sam was walking down the hall, his footsteps heavy and his face drawn. This was his first excursion from his room today - Jess was absent from his side, and Cas could hear muffled crying from several doors down.

"Not really." Cas hugged his knees to his chest and stared ahead, pretending to be mesmerized by the way the wood swirled into itself so Sam wouldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. "Dean isn't talking to me."

"He's not talking to anyone, for that matter." Sam frowned, pausing in front of Dean's door. He stood there, as if trying to think of something else to say. Finally, he continued: "Try not to take it personally."

"How is Jess faring?" Cas distracted himself from the issue at hand, preferring Sam's problems over his own. It was so much easier to deal with other people's problems, no matter how much they felt you were 'bothered' by them. The more difficult task was to challenge your own.

"About as well as you'd expect." Sam glanced back down the hall from where he had just come, tears shining in his hazel eyes. He wiped them away as though Cas hadn't seen. "She's not going to come out for a while."

"Neither is Dean." Cas waited a moment, feeling the sadness overwhelm him. He took a deep sigh, one that racked every inch of his body, and Sam chose then to sit down beside him. The two of them rested their heads against the wall, their eyes set in two different directions – one toward Dean's door and the other toward Jess' – as they waited together in some state that vaguely resembled patience.

***

The next day, Cas stumbled out of his room before dawn and went straight to the bunker door. He hadn't fallen asleep, naturally, and had been led out of his room by the distant sound of groans coming closer. He was concerned that walkers had broken down the fences, but when he got up to the door, Garth was there with one of the piglets in his arms.

"Heya Cas!" Garth smiled, tipping his oversized straw hat with his free hand. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I thought I heard..." Cas froze and set the side of his face against the bunker door, listening. He heard faint growls that were growing steadily closer. "I think the fence broke overnight. That herd from Wichita that trapped Charlie and the others is due any day now."

"I was just about to bring this little guy outside for some fresh air." Garth frowned. "He's not doing so well... and he's one of the last pigs we have. I'm not sure he'll make it unless we can take him outside..."

"Let me go out first." Cas insisted, beginning to unlock the door. His trenchcoat wasn't fastened properly around his waist – it hung loosely around his knees and made it difficult for him to move forward. "I'll check the area."

"What's going on?" Katharine yawned, her robes falling loosely around her pregnant stomach as she climbed up the last few steps. She was wearing these bright pink bunny slippers that Anaise had lent her, and they made her footsteps quiet. "Is everything okay?"

"Probably." Cas twisted the handle and readied himself to open the door. "Just go back to bed. Garth, do you have a gun with you?"

"Just this." Garth, with a smug look on his face, grabbed a massive assault rifle that had been leaning against the wall. "It's not really mine, but since no one's been on guard duty..."

"It's fine." Cas let the angel blade slip down into his sleeve. "Katharine, can you please go back to your room?"

"Fine," she huffed indignantly, her shoulders slumped as she turned away. She was about halfway down the stairs, her slippers soft against the stone, when Cas twisted the handle and opened the door. Almost immediately, half a dozen walkers flooded in and the stench of rotting corpses filling the air.

The next minute was a blur – Cas took a second too long to engage his angel blade into his hand and one of the walkers tried to snap at him. He barely managed to end it before he was harmed. Garth began backing up toward the staircase, his rifle shooting dozens of rounds into the walkers as they increased in number. Cas tried to stay near the door, his heart racing as he stabbed walker after walker. More kept flooding in, and Katharine was screaming from the halfway point down the stairs as Garth kept stepping down toward her, his rifle still shooting.

Cas shoved his whole weight against the door, his shoes slipping on the ground as he tried to push it against the flood of walkers. There were too many to fight against at this rate, and the only way to stop them from flowing in was to shut the door, but he couldn't do it by himself. There was pounding on the stairs, and suddenly, without warning, Sam was by his side, his arms straining as he tried to help with the door.

Garth was still on the stairs, shouting to Katharine, who had slipped and fallen about four steps. She was lying on the cement area where the stairs turned to go down, struggling to stand. More walkers flooded in, and Cas heard screams from the main room. Sam was shouting something and the moans of walkers were deafening. Overwhelmed, Cas spun around to attempt to clear the area of walkers while Sam pushed the door, only to see Garth being backed up against the railings by the herd, his gun out of ammo.

"Garth, look out!" Cas shouted, plunging his angel blade into the head of a nearby walker. Garth was pinned against the railings, using the butt of his gun to smash in heads while he had a chance. Katharine was at the base of the stairs now, still recovering from her fall, and was screaming for Garth.

Cas felt himself grow dizzy with the intensity of it all, the screaming and stench of death too much to bear. He felt a walker brush by him roughly, its body heavy. He felt faint and disoriented, the stairs to one side of him and Sam with the door to the other. He collapsed under the weight of the dead as they piled in over him, their bodies writhing and teeth clacking. He thought of Dean as he lay there, surrounded and death inevitable as his head hit the ground and his vision faded to black.