Dean's Dixon

Hanging on by a thread

The Winchesters had gotten out of the prison by the skin of their teeth but that didn't stop Dean from insisting they go back. He had to find June, it wasn't optional for him and he refused to leave her again without even checking. This wasn't the farm, this was a damn prison and if there was even the smallest chance that she found a place to hide inside the walls, he was going to check. The brothers got back right after June hopped a ride with Abraham and his people, missing her by less than an hour, but Dean wasn't a psychic and had no way of knowing. It took them longer than they would've liked to get inside the building and the first place he looked was their cell, taking note of the things that were missing.

"She's been here."

"How do you know?"

"She took her bug out bag, her riot gear, Merle's journal, and the pictures Glenn gave her of us."

"You sure it was her? Anyone could've-"

"Who the hell else would want her brother's journal or family photos? Come on Sammy, think! It was June. She's alive and now we need to find her!"

"Yeah, ok. You make a good point. I saw the Impala still out there, let's grab some things here and see if we can get out."

Sam had stolen his idea but the thought of being reunited with June and anyone else they could find drove him to keep his mouth shut about it. June had left a few things on purpose, figuring even if it wasn't the Winchesters that found it, they could still help someone. Dean grabbed all he could and the last thing he made sure to bring with him was his mom's ring, no matter how long it took him to get back to June he was going to get this on her finger.

The boys had to get creative when it came time to actually get to the Impala and out the gate, but Sam had grabbed a gun off one of the bodies and shot the dead from the window. It made for a noisy ride but it worked and Dean managed to get them on the road and away from the walkers with minimal damage to his other baby.

"Where should we start?"

"There's a town a few miles down the road. Someone might be there, I think most of our people will stick to the tracks though. Might be quicker to leave the Impala and-"

"I'm not ditching baby Sam! We'll need her when we find our family, it'll be safer for us to sleep in here than outside, and..." he took an unsteady breath in and let it out slow, about to be more open than he was usually comfortable with. "There's too many memories in this car Sammy. We grew up in the back of this car, all the runs we've gone on with Daryl and Glenn, June singing along to my favorite songs... I ain't givin up the Impala."

"Ain't?"

"What?"

"Nothin, just haven't heard you say 'ain't' in a long time. Sound a little like June and Daryl."

"Shut up."

*

The brothers luck seemed to have been left at the prison because no matter where they went, they always seemed to miss one of their group by minutes. Most of them were in the woods or on the tracks like Sam had said, and those like Rick or June were always gone (sometimes by mere minutes) by the time they got to where they'd been. At this point they were driving in circles and Sam worried not only for their gas but his brother's emotional state. The longer they went without finding anyone, the more frantic he became and Sam was wracking his brain trying to think of a different solution.

"Dean, we should stop for the night."

"I'm not stopping until we find someone."

"We know them Dean. No way will they risk walking at night, everyone is probably already asleep."