Day 0 - ESCAPE
[Takes places immediately after HERE - Day 0/7]
Dean Winchester stumbled for what had to be the fifth time since he got pulled off that table.
One of his corpse's legs gave out under him, and Dean almost went down to his knees - the only thing saving him was Sammy's hand, grabbing at him, slipping on the slick blood coating his back, and Dean had to clutch hard at his brother's clothes to help him. Dean's mind spun. Sam. Sammy was here, he was really here, and there were just mindless seconds where he'd find himself looking up at Sam's face, his little brother's mouth tight-lipped, eyes wide, unblinking, pupils dilated as Sam concentrated on moving, and Dean would forget he was supposed to be helping the two of them escape too. Some of the memories were back, something besides that lab, and it was harder than usual to concentrate even as the institute crumbled around them.
The floor - the whole building - shook again. The floor rolled, and even Sam had a hard time keeping on his feet. Dust filtering from the ceiling as Dean suddenly registered other people around them. Screams.
For once, they weren't his.
Clinging onto his brother for support, his legs just barely carrying him and doing their best boneless impression, Dean lifted his head, blinking the last of that burning water and blood from his eyes. They were out in some kinda room with seats, and there were others out there, some of them running for the wide open doors, others lying in the shadows and not moving. He looked at them, fascinated, 'cause in his experience, there wasn't anything stopping them from getting up. Look at him, he'd done it. It took another harsh tug from Sam to get him moving again. Between all the excitement, and Sam here and the foreign noises and smells, Dean forgot all about the single iron cuff still trapped around his wrist, the chain dragging at his heels. The double doors ahead of them hung open on broken hinges. He sniffed experimentally.
Something smelled like it was burning, except he was pretty sure there was too much for it to be coming from him.
When they broke outside, Dean could see the thick column of greasy black smoke creeping up into the air. Flames suddenly spurted off to the left as something in a side building exploded. Debris showered down on them, chunks here and there pattering on the asphalt. Sam hustled him along out past the doors, jostling past other patients. More sounds, so loud to his ears that he winced. A glance up. Dean started to raise a hand to point at the little specks wheeling about the growing cloud of smoke towering higher and higher, almost lost his balance, and thought better of it, grabbing tight onto Sam's clothes before he pitched backward. Several of the specks began to descend with gurgles and shrieks, and it was when they came closer that Dean could see they were some kinda - animal, bird, his brain supplied, and it looked like parts of that were jump-started too - some kinda giant birds, their wings snapping to their sides as they went into steep dives, one after the other. They were so high up, circling around the smoke column, that it took him a second to realize they were dropping fast.
This time Dean managed to grab enough at his corpse's strings to point at the birds.
"Look, Sam," he said through his blood-stained lips, voice almost calmly curious as he looked up at the birds.
One of them beat the rest of the flock and came right at them as the crowd of patients surged. The thing was suddenly winging a path only yards ahead, huge, bowling through the five patients in front, sending four to the ground and raking the fifth with its claws. Its gigantic wings beat furiously, kicking up clouds of dust as it shrieked again, so loud Dean could feel it rattle his teeth. Its beak opened and closed with a click and then it bent its head, and when it came back up, its beak was stained with fresh blood, glistening in the firelight.
Distracted, Dean almost forgot to move again, staring at the wings, the glowing eyes, the jagged beak. Somewhere, he thought, somewhere he was sure White-Eyes would've liked this animal, and then he had another thought.
Where's White-Eyes?
Dean Winchester stumbled for what had to be the fifth time since he got pulled off that table.
One of his corpse's legs gave out under him, and Dean almost went down to his knees - the only thing saving him was Sammy's hand, grabbing at him, slipping on the slick blood coating his back, and Dean had to clutch hard at his brother's clothes to help him. Dean's mind spun. Sam. Sammy was here, he was really here, and there were just mindless seconds where he'd find himself looking up at Sam's face, his little brother's mouth tight-lipped, eyes wide, unblinking, pupils dilated as Sam concentrated on moving, and Dean would forget he was supposed to be helping the two of them escape too. Some of the memories were back, something besides that lab, and it was harder than usual to concentrate even as the institute crumbled around them.
The floor - the whole building - shook again. The floor rolled, and even Sam had a hard time keeping on his feet. Dust filtering from the ceiling as Dean suddenly registered other people around them. Screams.
For once, they weren't his.
Clinging onto his brother for support, his legs just barely carrying him and doing their best boneless impression, Dean lifted his head, blinking the last of that burning water and blood from his eyes. They were out in some kinda room with seats, and there were others out there, some of them running for the wide open doors, others lying in the shadows and not moving. He looked at them, fascinated, 'cause in his experience, there wasn't anything stopping them from getting up. Look at him, he'd done it. It took another harsh tug from Sam to get him moving again. Between all the excitement, and Sam here and the foreign noises and smells, Dean forgot all about the single iron cuff still trapped around his wrist, the chain dragging at his heels. The double doors ahead of them hung open on broken hinges. He sniffed experimentally.
Something smelled like it was burning, except he was pretty sure there was too much for it to be coming from him.
When they broke outside, Dean could see the thick column of greasy black smoke creeping up into the air. Flames suddenly spurted off to the left as something in a side building exploded. Debris showered down on them, chunks here and there pattering on the asphalt. Sam hustled him along out past the doors, jostling past other patients. More sounds, so loud to his ears that he winced. A glance up. Dean started to raise a hand to point at the little specks wheeling about the growing cloud of smoke towering higher and higher, almost lost his balance, and thought better of it, grabbing tight onto Sam's clothes before he pitched backward. Several of the specks began to descend with gurgles and shrieks, and it was when they came closer that Dean could see they were some kinda - animal, bird, his brain supplied, and it looked like parts of that were jump-started too - some kinda giant birds, their wings snapping to their sides as they went into steep dives, one after the other. They were so high up, circling around the smoke column, that it took him a second to realize they were dropping fast.
This time Dean managed to grab enough at his corpse's strings to point at the birds.
"Look, Sam," he said through his blood-stained lips, voice almost calmly curious as he looked up at the birds.
One of them beat the rest of the flock and came right at them as the crowd of patients surged. The thing was suddenly winging a path only yards ahead, huge, bowling through the five patients in front, sending four to the ground and raking the fifth with its claws. Its gigantic wings beat furiously, kicking up clouds of dust as it shrieked again, so loud Dean could feel it rattle his teeth. Its beak opened and closed with a click and then it bent its head, and when it came back up, its beak was stained with fresh blood, glistening in the firelight.
Distracted, Dean almost forgot to move again, staring at the wings, the glowing eyes, the jagged beak. Somewhere, he thought, somewhere he was sure White-Eyes would've liked this animal, and then he had another thought.
Where's White-Eyes?