No Greater Love

Chapter One

Castiel Novack awoke to the sound of someone knocking on his front door. At first when he opened his eyes and looked around the room, he thought he had dreamt it. He closed his eyes again to fall back to sleep when the knocking happened again. This time it was more urgent. He sat up and grabbed his cell off the nigh table and looked at the time. It was five thirty in the morning. He rubbed his eyes and wondered who would be knocking at his door this early in the morning. He sleepily made his way down the hall, in nothing but his SpongeBob pajama pants. He peeked in on his three year old step daughter, who was sound asleep on her toddler bed. He slowly shut the door so the noise wouldn't wake her up. He went to the front door, unlocked and opened it to revel his wife Jennifer's best friend from the Army standing in front of him. He stared at him, his eyes fluttering in utter confusion.

"Daniel? What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk Castiel. Can I come in?"

Castiel's heart suddenly felt like it stopped. He knew what this was, and part of him didn't want to let them in because he didn't want to hear it. If he heard the words come out of their mouth, it would become reality. So many thoughts began racing through his mind. She couldn't be dead. She promised him she would always come back to him. She never broke her promises to him.

"What is this about?"

Daniel sighed and looked into Cas's eyes. His voice turned sad. "I'd rather come in to discuss this." Cas stared at the man for five seconds before opening the door wider for him to come in.

"Maybe we should have a seat."

Cas shut the door behind them and turned to face his wife's best friend who they had shared many memories with. He had been invited to every Christmas and thanksgiving dinner and was considered family.

"I thought you guys weren't supposed to be back for another month?" Cas said to him curiously. "Maybe you should stop stalling and you tell me what this is about."

He sighed holding his stare. "Jennifer was near a car bombing when we were in Afghanistan. A few explosions went off and it was like a lot of people went crazy. They all started eating each other. They all had to be shot down. Your wife wasn't one of them. But she went missing in the chaos."

Cas blinked a few times and then narrowed his eyebrows and folded his arms across his chest. "They started eating eachother?"

He nodded. "We don't know if it was a psychological chemical they let off in the air. We seriously don't even know what it was. It's possibly chemical warfare. It's happening almost everywhere around the world right now. It hasn't got here yet. We're working on finding out what it is. She could have been taken prisoner. We're still looking."

Cas let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "This sounds like something out of a horror movie. Eating each other? Come on Daniel."

"I was there Castiel. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen. It...it was like no matter how many times we shot them, they just wouldn't die. They attacked...and ripped...and tore people apart...and the blood..." He shook his head in disgust. "I had seen some heavy shit before...but that...that's going to keep me up at night for the rest of my life."

Cas rubbed a hand over his five o clock shadow. "So she could be off somewhere being tortured or could be dead." He nodded at him. "What are the chances you can find her? Or should I start planning a fuckin funeral?" Cas didn't like the government or the military and was extremely bitter. Something inside him told him that they were all no good. He didn't know what it was, but there was something extremely off about it. He had told his wife so when he had met her five years before, but all she wanted to do was help the world. Now she was gone.