Return of a Hunter

Another's Plan

                  

It takes me two days, seventeen hours of driving, and I'm finally home. I drag my tired ass inside and collapse on my bed. I'm so glad to be home. I sleep far into the next day, barely getting up to go to the bathroom and find something to eat. I still have a couple days before I told Reggie I'd be back. Plus I still have a hole in my shoulder that needs to heal before I can even think about lifting water buckers again.

            I wake up coughing. It's so hard to breathe. I open my eyes to darkness and they sting. I roll out of bed and instinctively on my knees, I can breathe better. Fire. My house is on fire.

            "Shit shit shit," I make my way to the window, throwing it open. Oxygen is fuel for fires, but this is my only escape. I bust the screen out and crawl onto the lawn. I'm still hacking and coughing from the smoke, but I kept crawling to get away from the fire. I make it to the street and grab onto the door of my truck to pull myself up to my feet. Ironically, seeing in the middle of the night isn't a problem. I turn around, shielding my eyes to see my porch collapse. My home is an inferno. My home is gone.

            Thank god I have good neighbors. A firetruck pulls up not five minutes later and start putting the fire out. A few men bring an oxygen tank to me and hand me a mask. I thankfully take it and breathe deep, my lungs burning slightly.

            "Ma'am, you should go to the hospital to get checked out," one says, adjusting the oxygen tank. I simply nod. As soon as they ambulance arrives, they put me in and haul me off. I check out well. My lungs didn't sustain a lot of damage. I have a couple scraps and scratches from crawling but no burns thankfully. My insurance covers the medicine they give me to repair any damage. One thing that being a hunter doesn't have, insurance and availability to go to the hospital.

            "How're you doing, Brianna?" the doctor walks in with my chart in hand.

            "Better," I take a sip of water.

            "Good. Good. Well, you can be discharged tonight if you'd like. Do you have anyone to call to help you?"

            I sigh regrettably, "Yeah. Can I borrow a phone?"

            I stay at the hospital for two days because well, I have nowhere else to go. Sam and Dean arrive promptly in the morning in true Winchester fashion, demanding to see me. Of course, they didn't have to since I told the doctors that they'd be arriving.

            "Seriously?" I shove my stuff into the little backpack the hospital provided. "You could have just asked which room I was in. They knew you were coming." Soon enough, I'm discharged and walking out. Dean carrying my duffle bag and Sam pushing me in a wheelchair against my will. When we get outside and I independently get into the back of the Impala, they start riddling e with questions. "Who do you think did it?" "Could it be the monster families in town?" "Could it have been Crowley?"

            "I don't know!" I shout exasperated. "I don't know. Can we just go and get my truck?"

            "Cas already is headed to the bunker with it," Dean informs me. I sigh and get comfortable in the backseat.

            "How're you feeling?" Sam turns around, asking.

            "I'm fine physically." Emotionally I'm battered and bleeding. I lost my home. I lost my job. I lost the live I tried so hard to build. Sam gives me a sympathetic smile and puts a hand on my knee.

            "I'm sorry Bri," he says.

            "Yeah," I'm about to cry. "I'm gonna sleep until we get to the bunker." I grab my duffle bag and use it as a pillow." "Don't crash." I close my eyes and I'm out in minutes.