On The Flip Side

Chapter 4

They take the Impala despite Aaron offering his own car up. The town they go to is on the outskirts of what's already been searched. Even though the Alexandria runners haven't touched it yet, it's still entirely picked over. Knocked in doors, broken windows, cabinets ripped open in haste and never closed. The few small stores are completely wiped, not a thing left on the shelves aside from some old lint.

They mostly go out for practice. They need to know how to navigate this new world. Alexandria is safe and they're welcome there, but there's no guarantee that it's forever. Well-- forever makes it sound like they'll always be here. There's no surefire way to know it'll hold for as long as they're in this world is what Sam means.

Sam feels bad when he thinks about leaving. He knows he can't afford to. But he's learned these people's names, has seen their faces and their fear. There's a whole universe without all of this waiting for him and Dean and Cas, and they... they can't afford to bring anyone. Not if everyone here is infected like Aaron had morosely mentioned offhand, like it was just another fact everyone knew.

Killing walkers is laughably easy. They're slow and not very smart. Much better than the those who'd fallen victim to the Croatoan virus. Still, he can see how things would get bad quick if you got cornered by yourself with more than three on you. The herd they got caught in was a death sentence if you were on foot, or if you were in a car without reinforced glass like the Impala.

"You've noticed that meals are getting smaller, right?" Dean noted. They hadn't been eating Alexandria's food. They had Cas bring them stuff and tried not to feel guilty about it. At least they weren't taking any of the settlement's supply. "I vote we let Cas teleport around, bring some stuff in. We fill the Impala, claim we found an abandoned car with a stash. You down?"

Alexandria was struggling. There was a certain tension in the air that never seemed to fade, a type Sam got the impression wasn't commonplace even in the apocalypse. This Negan guy and his group... His demands were steep. For a community as big as Alexandria to hand over half of whatever they found every time he came to visit? It wasn't sustainable. It just wasn't.

"I'm down." Sam said immediately, eager. Bringing something like that back could be a big help. This wasn't their world, sure, but these people had opened their gates to them. Three total strangers, and they hadn't hesitated. "Cas? You cool with that?"

"It's actually quite warm out." Castiel said before he paused, blinking. He nodded. "Ah, yes. I will be back soon."

And then he was gone with the fluttering sound of those magnificent wings they couldn't perceive. Dean turned towards Sam with a broad grin, hands on his hips. He looked smug.

"Told you he could learn." Dean snarked. Sam rolled his eyes and turned to jab his machete through the head of another one of the undead.

Castiel appeared in intervals, dropping various food items on the ground for the brothers to pick up and pack into the car. He went for canned goods mostly, but occasionally he'd show up with an armful of chip bags, or some cereal boxes, and once a whole stock of toothpaste. Dean had no idea where he was getting them and wasn't about to ask. Sam could only hope he wasn't stealing it from people who needed it just as bad as Alexandria did.

The Impala filled fast. The trunk was large and roomy, and they shoved most of it back there. Most actual boxes got piled in the back seat. Castiel would have a hell of a squeeze to make, but they knew the angel wouldn't really mind. Castiel was hard to bother, and tolerant of a lot of things. Too many, really.

"Cas, you're too good for us." Dean wrapped him in a one armed hug again, squeezing their sides together. Castiel looked pleased. "Way, way too good. We would be 100% dead and gone without you. And if we weren't either of those, we'd be just plain lost."