Crisis on Infinite Earths

Always Expect the Unexpected

Suddenly they were engulfed in wildlife. Surrounded by a landscape covered in long green shards of grass and tall trees which created a vast amount of shade.

Dean heard a loud grunt from behind him as he whipped his head around to see Sam fall flat on his stomach.
Dean let out a small chuckle before helping him to his feet.

A man in a trench coat appeared out of the light with great momentum as he smashed into Sam, knocking him to the ground again. Sam felt an enormous amount of weight crush him and could feel the outline of Castiel's figure indenting his back.

"Cas. Please. Get off me," Sam said with urgency as he gasped for air.

Castiel planted his hands on the earth for support as he got to his feet.

"Where are we?" Cas asked, curiosity bubbling inside of him.

"Well we're definitely not in the bunker anymore," Dean replied while scanning his whereabouts.

They all began to hear a high-pitched noise radiate from the portal. The noise grew louder and louder as the seconds passed.
Suddenly, a body was thrown out of the portal which was sent crashing towards the ground.

"Charlie?" Dean had a surprised tone in his voice.
"I didn't think ghosts could travel through portals?" Dean scanned her body.

"Well, now apparently they can," Charlie said as she wiped the dirt off of her grey jeans.

Her head began to spin as her stomach turned in on itself urging her to throw up.

She felt a trickle down her cheek as she stared at Dean, his face in shock.

"Charlie. You're bleeding," Dean knelt down, his knee cap digging into the dirt.

"Wait. Ghosts can't bleed. So why am I bleeding?" Charlie asked as she stared at Dean.

"I don't know," Dean replied as he saw a drop of blood release itself from her cheek. It fell to the ground silently and stained the grass a deep red.

"You'll be fine. Let's just get you up on your feet," Dean eyed Charlie as she nodded and placed one foot on the ground.

She steadily rose to her feet as she wiped at the blood on her forehead where the wound was.

"There. See," Dean looked at Charlie with hope spread across his features.

Suddenly, her knees buckled beneath her as she fell forward into Dean, his chest warm which provided comfort.

Dean caught her, his hands cupped under her armpits which gave her extra support. She looked pale and green but the feature which stood out the most was the look of surprise on her face.

"How did you?" Dean didn't get to finish his sentence before Charlie interrupted

"I don't know.. Wait.. Can I touch solid objects now...Is this because of the portal... I hope it's permanent."

"Ahh, Dean..." Dean heard Sam speak through his teeth.

They all turned in Sams direction and saw a large mammal hiding behind the long grass. Its back was hunched with its paws outstretched in front of it ready to pounce. The coat was a beautiful mix of black, orange and white intertwining stripes which stood out amongst the green.

"I believe that's a tiger," Castiel leant towards Deans ear.

"No Cas, it's an elephant," Dean replied sarcastically.

"I thought elephants have a blue-like coloured coat with tusks and a long trunk," Castiel questioned as the skin between his eyebrows creased with confusion.

Dean rolled his eyes dramatically and turned his head to face Sam.

"What are we going to do?" Sam whispered.

Dean's eyes searched everywhere when suddenly he saw an outline of a painted letter Z in bright red; between a small gap in the two trees behind them.

"When I say go, turn around and run as fast as you can towards the trees," Dean turned to Castiel, Charlie and Sam before nodding.
"Go!"

They all bolted towards the trees without looking back. The wall made itself more visible as they grew closer, the letters grew bigger and bolder.

Sam's long legs pushed him forward, faster than Cas, Charlie or Dean. Their eyes widened as they saw the letters Z, O, O in front of them, staring them in the face.

The ground and air vibrated with intensity as they heard a heart pounding ROAR! The tiger pounced and began to run as each paw slammed into the dirt with a loud THUMP!

"There's no way we can outrun it!" Sam yelled as he twisted his neck back to face Dean.

"We just need to outsmart it!" Dean yelled back in response.

"Let's split up. Sammy and I will go left, you two go right," Dean noticed Sam had slowed down to join him, so he nudged Sam's shoulder and flicked his head to the left.

The thumps slowly grew louder and Castiel felt the tremors under his feet intensify. Castiel saw Sam and Dean head left so he grabbed Charlie by the arm and ran to the right.

"There is a 50% chance that the mammal will decide to follow our route, so we need to find some way out of here. Since hiding will not guarantee our survival due to the fact that mammals can smell prey from miles away," Castiel said in a neutral tone.

"Well aren't you the smarty pants," Charlie chuckled as a smile spread across her face.
"This is a Zoo right? So staff must have access to this area. Let's just find the way into this place so we can get the hell outta here," Charlie felt less nauseous and light headed as her adrenaline kicked in.

They had exited the field of trees to see bridges and fences aligning the wall ahead of them as the bright yellow sun reflected off of a small metal door 20 metres away.

"Over there!" Charlie yelled as she pointed to the door and began to run much faster than she had been previously.

Castiel followed behind her in anticipation, hoping Dean and Sam were safe.