Croatoan part 4/?
Disclaimer: Supernatural and its characters belong to eric kripke and the cw
Warnings: None.
Parts: One, Two, Three
By the time Dean had awaken from dream land, Alice and the others had been up for an hour and a half, and had already eaten breakfast.
Dean’s bedside lamp was on and that indicated that it was past nine. He squinted at the clock on the wall opposite of him and it read 9:45. Dean groaned as he sat up in bed. His eyes hurt, and as he walked into the bathroom, he noticed that they were red. He must have begun to cry in his sleep last night (something he would definitely deny if the subject was brought up).
“Look, sleeping beauty has finally awoke from her slumber,” Alice joked as Dean swayed into the living room, still half-dazed from just waking up.
“Whah?’ he said groggily. He got a laugh from Jeremy in return.
“We left you some breakfast. It’s on the stove,” Alice said without turning her head from the television.
Dean smiled to himself and walked into the kitchen to find ham and bacon on a small plate with a glass of milk sat next to it. An all meat breakfast is something that he could definitely handle. He walked back into the room and sat on the floor next to the couch, even though the lounge chair was unoccupied. He munched quietly on his food and occasionally looked up at the television, catching glimpses of a Disney movie that he didn’t exactly know, but had surely seen before.
He finished and deposited his saucer in the kitchen sink. Someone must be doing the dishes every night, because in the morning there was never a dish in sight, all in their places in the cabinets.
“Oh, hey, Dean,” Alice called, walking up behind him. He stopped in his doorway. “Do you still want help with the H.A.M. radio? I could help you set it up now. Thursdays are usually when I take Jeremy and Alex out to the lakes over there,” she pointed south, passed the school where trees rose up, “and I have Jeremy practice with the shot guns, and I occasionally work with the rifle. Come down with us after we set up the radio, okay.” Alice wasn’t asking Dean if he wanted to go, she had just assumed he would if she invited him, and he would.
“Uhm, okay, I guess,” he replied. He stepped into his room and grabbed the radio off of the floor where he had set it down the night before. After plugging it into the wall socket, Dean fiddled with a few of the knobs before a light static began to flow in. He twisted a left knob for a moment before dropping his hands to his sides and scrunching up his face.
“What?” Alice asked, confused about his disposition.
“Nothing, I’m just trying to remember the station the camp up in Oregon is on,” Dean answered without looking up. He fiddled with the knob one more time before nodding happily and turning the left and right knobs a few knocks before picking up the microphone and speaking into it. “Breaker twelve, is the profit in?” Alice raised an eyebrow in question, and Dean tightly gripped the microphone in anticipation.
“Depends who’s asking. Is this D/W calling in to camp?” a male voice on the other end asked. Dean smiled and clicked the microphone.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s me. Hey Chuck, how are things?” Dean asked relief heavy in his voice. He propped his free arm on his knee and rested his forehead in the palm of his hand.
“Dean. It’s good to hear you man. You have no idea how freaked out half the people here were without you. A lot of them thought you were dead because we haven’t heard from you. Where are you right now?” the man, Chuck, sounded relieved as well, huffing on the other end. His voice was a bit jumpy, but Alice assumed that that was just him.
“I’m in San Jose, California. I ran into a kid who’s been letting me stay with her and her family. I’m alright though,” Dean answered.
“A kid? Dean, what the hell? People here have been looking for you, Cas is even-“
“Cas is still alive?” Dean cut in. he raised his head from his hand and his eyes were wide with surprise.
“Y- yeah Cas is still alive, why wouldn’t he be?” Chuck asked, his voice cracking a little.
“I just thought,” Dean paused and scratched at his brow. “I don’t know man, I just thought he might have left with all the other angels, ya’know?” there was a short pause on the other end before Chuck’s voice cut back in through the static.
“No, no I think he was already so fallen… it didn’t really matter to him. He has… changed a bit. Well,” Chuck half-laughed, half sighed, “he’s definitely changed, a little more than a bit.”
Dean looked up at Alice and she shrugged. She had no idea what was going on; let alone who any of these people were.
“What do you mean he changed? What the hell is going on over there Chuck? Has QC tried to pass through yet?”
“No. they haven’t tried to take over the camp, but they’ve definitely been scouting. Just looking for a reason to come in and wipe us all off of the map,” Chuck said.
“Wait, Quarantine Control is still on our asses? What the hell do they-“ Dean was interrupted by a rush of words from the other end.
“Dean, hey, Dean, I’ve got to go. A whole swarm of Croats just, holy crap! I’ll call you back later. Damn it!” the other end turned to static.
“Chuck. Chuck!” Dean shouted into the microphone but there was no answer from the other end. “Dammit,” he huffed under his breath. He put the microphone down next to the radio and set it on the dresser next to his bed. He carded his hands through his short hair.
“So,” Alice broke the silence, “What’s Quarantine Control?”
“Quarantine Control,” Dean sighed as he sat upright, looking at Alice, “is a government agency set up to keep the Croatoans away from those who are still healthy. They ride around in these big white trucks and vans and scout out places. If there’s sign of an outbreak, even if it’s only in one person, they come back with what’s left of the military and wipe the entire town out for, uh, ‘safe measures’. It’s all just crap,” he said. Dean stood and walked passed Alice into the bathroom and shut the door. The shower turned on and Alice could hear the curtain being pulled back. She stood in Dean’s room for a moment before turning and leaving to her own room.
She sat on her bed and pulled out a few things from her closet and her drawers; a shirt, a jean jacket that went just past her waist, a pair of old broken in hiking boots, her assault rifle and ammunition, and a pair of old jeans that were torn at the knee. She put on the clothes and called Jeremy and Alex into the room.
“What’s up?” Jeremy asked as he breached the doorway. Alex poked her head in between the doorway and Jeremy’s body. Jeremy put his arm around her neck and let it hang loosely.
“Who wants to go shooting today?”
Part Five