23. Carthage, Missouri

I'd forgotten just how impactful a moving car could help me sleep. I'd been woken up long enough to get moved into the backseat of the Impala before conking out again. That disturbance hadn't been fun, because Dean had been the one to do it, and he had a very disapproving look on his face the way he found Sam and me on the floor this morning. We weren't in a very compromising position, just an innocent me cuddled against his side with his long arm around me, somehow with his fingers interlocked with mine still. We'd both blushed tomato-red after Dean had skulked off.

We knew that talk would be coming in our near future once this issue in Missouri was done.

Here we were now, in the heart of the town. I was still very groggy. Dean had been the one to wake me up, telling me to look for signal on my phone. All three of us stuck our phones out the windows. I frowned.

"You getting a signal?" Sam asked.

"Nada," I reported.

"No, nothing," Dean agreed. "Nice and spooky."

The Impala rolled to a gentle halt as Dean waved the car behind us up. Ellen was the driver, with Jo in shotgun. I assumed Cas was in the back of their vehicle since he wasn't in here with us.

"Place seem a little empty to you?" Ellen said.

"We're gonna go check out the PD. You guys stay here, see if you can find anybody."

"Okay."

I tucked my phone away as Dean drove us off to the precinct. The place was eerily quiet, as though something wiped all the people out. As though this place, like the rest of the world, was void of people. I felt like we were in one of those movies where there were only a select group of people left on the planet.

Once we rolled to a halt in front of the station, we all climbed out and covered every inch. We had the bad idea of splitting up, which I hated. But it wasn't so bad once there wasn't any present threat. I'd been high-strung for no reason. Well, I knew the feeling would come back. This was only just the beginning.

We'd just gotten done the scan before our second car rolled up. Ellen and Jo were present, I didn't see Cas anywhere in the car.

"Station's empty," Dean reported.

"So's everything else," said Jo.

"Have you seen Cas?" Ellen asked us.

"What?" said Sam. "He was with you."

"Nope. He went after the reapers."

"Reapers?" I squeaked. That didn't sound good, there was an s at the end. Just how many reapers did we have hanging around here?

"He saw reapers?" Sam repeated. "Where?"

"Well, kind of everywhere," said Jo.

Yeah, that definitely didn't sound good at all.

"So, what's the plan?" I said uneasily.

"We go on foot."

Ellen parked the car, and all five of us got armed. I wondered where Cas had wandered off to. There was the high chance that something bad got to him, whether it was these reapers or even Lucifer himself. Lucifer seemed more likely.

We stuck to the middle of the streets, all huddled close together, eyes waiting to find some flicker of danger. I kept the gun low at my side. I felt better with hunters around me, I was the least experienced. But I wanted to do this. Besides, if this was the world I was going to be stuck in for years, I was going to have to gain some experience. This wasn't the best way to, but it seemed like the only way at the moment.

The minutes felt like they were hours. Cas hadn't come back to join us. I considered calling him, but if he was with Lucifer, I doubted he'd be able to come running back to us. I bit my lower lip. Things seemed way too calm here. Something had to happen soon.

"Well, this is great," Dean groaned, "been in town twenty minutes and already lost the angel up our sleeve."

"You think, uh, you think Lucifer got him?" Sam voiced, probably voicing a fear of all of ours.

"I don't know what else to think."

"There you are," said a gravelly, high voice.

We all turned, and I nearly dropped my gun. Son of a bitch. I remembered her very clearly.

"Meg," I whispered.

"Ooh, you're still around? Guess we didn't do a good job of scaring you." She grinned wolfishly. "Shouldn't have come here, boys."

"Hell, I could say the same thing about you," Dean retorted. He pulled out the Colt and aimed it at Meg. I wouldn't have hesitated, I would have shot her right on the spot, right between her eyes.

"Didn't come here alone, Deano."

I noticed it, the subtle splash of the puddle near Meg's feet. I looked around anxiously at hearing the high growls of dogs. The barking made my skin crawl. Where was it coming from? Everyone was looking around too, but none of us could find fur to lock eyes on.

"Hellhounds," Dean hissed.

"Yeah, Dean," Meg sang. "Your favorite. Come on, boys. My father wants to see you."

"I think we'll pass, thanks," Sam said curtly.

"Your call. You can make this easy or you can make it really, really hard."

My eyes flickered to see Dean looking back. I was too focused on training my gun in front of me to really pay attention.

"When have you known us to ever make anything easy?" Dean told her.

Meg shook her head. I cringed as I heard the shot and saw blood spurt out of thin air at Meg's feet.

"Run!" Sam bellowed.

We all turned and took off. I had no idea where we were going. Our closest shelter was any of the stores.

"Dean!" I heard Jo shout. I twisted around.

"Jo, stay back!" he shouted. He was on the ground, no doubt facing a Hellhound which none of us could see.

Jo fired in Dean's direction. She kept unleashing a fury of bullets. I could see the blood splash, telling me she kept getting hits. Once you got the general area after the guessing game, it didn't seem as hard to figure out where to hit. The blood kept moving further and further back.

"No!" Ellen shrieked the moment I saw claw marks tear into Jo's side.

I was the closest; I began unleashing hell on the Hellhound. I tried not to shoot Jo, but the Hellhound that decided to try and make a meal out of her. I heard firing behind me, so Ellen and Sam had to be right behind me. Once I saw the blood fly, I kept on firing. Right now, I was running on adrenaline, on bravery.

"Hurry!" I snapped at Dean as he went to scoop up Jo.

"Dak!" he ordered as he ran with Jo in his arms. I kept backing up, firing more and more. The snarls were more menacing, the barking more vicious. But I still couldn't see the damn things. I kept firing in front of me, as a warning for the vile creatures that I would shoot to kill. Too bad we don't have technology to help us see these things!

"Dakota!" Ellen shouted. "Get your ass moving!"

I spun around on my heels and ran for the hardware store Dean had just run himself and Jo into. Ellen got the door open, Sam kept firing for me as I ran.

I screamed bloody murder as I felt it, the ripping, white-hot pain. I felt the hot pins bite into my leg. I could already feel the fresh blood weeping out of it. I couldn't hear my name being called over the feral snarls ringing in my ears.

I twisted around and began firing in front of me. I blinked rapidly as I felt blood cake my face. I began to sit up as I kept firing. From a distance, I could see Meg, watching amusedly as our little band was gathering all its numbers. I wished I could take her out right now, but I knew my aim would be so off.

I breathed heavily, only to scream louder as I felt canines in my right shoulder. I tried to twist and aim my gun at the invisible Hellhound, but when I tried to fire, I was out of bullets. Shit. The only thing I could do was try and shake the menace off me.

But that was kind of hard to do when I was in excruciating pain.

Meg had to be enjoying herself. No one would get enjoyment out of another's pain like a demon. I knew that way before I had joined this crusade in the midst of an apocalypse. I knew it from past experience.

Something rough knocked me in the head, and I heard loud yelps beside me. Colors blended together, my pulse thundered in my ears. Noises were being muffled, like I was submerged in water. It felt like my entire body was on fire, not just my shoulder or my leg.

"Hurry up!" I managed to hear Ellen shout.

A blurred figure was the last thing I remembered seeing. Maybe it was Lucifer. Maybe he had come to watch me die and gloat to the others of how foolish we were. Maybe he'd come to finish us off himself and was tired of the games Meg was playing.

Cas was probably right when he said this was our last day on Earth, how last night had literally been our last night. I wanted someone, a voice, a figure, someone to tell me that it was going to be okay. I would have been okay with Cas coming in to save our asses from Meg and her pack of Hellhounds.

I wanted this to be a hellish nightmare that I could wake up from. But I knew I was kidding myself. This was reality, all gory reality. And I wasn't going to make it.

I should have listened to Sam.

**So...[nervous laughter]...we made it to the "fun" part of the episode. There's more "fun" to come.

[hastily hoards tissues for future chapters to come]

But things will get better. But they have to get worse first. Very, very worse...**