Chapter Text
Jessica Moore woke up in a field.
The first thing she noticed was the cold. She was still in the nightclothes she had worn when she had gone to bed in California. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.
For a moment all she felt was confusion, then panic spread like ice from the tips of her fingers all the way to her chest. She resisted the part of her mind that was trying to tug her back into unconsciousness and struggled to control her frantic thoughts and uneven breaths.
In and out she breathed, eyes closed. She couldn’t freak out if she was in danger, she just needed to calm down and figure out what was going on.
Okay , she thought, mind racing. Somehow, you were moved from your comfy bed in your apartment in Palo Alto to a strange clearing in the middle of nowhere… without waking up.
Images of chloroform soaked rags and tall men wearing ski masks assaulted her psyche. Once more taking deep, calming breaths, she decided that the best move in her current situation was to figure out if she was hurt or tied up.
Standing without difficulty, she brushed dust off her thighs and palms. Thankfully, she thought, she didn’t seem to be hurt, which was priority #1. The next thing, which was sort of obvious at this point, was that she wasn’t tied up or restrained in any way. Well, she mused, at least that probably means this isn’t a kidnapping.
Unfortunately, her assessment didn’t answer her more pressing questions. Like where was she? And why ? Kidnapping for ransom would be the most reasonable explanation, but the information she had gathered and a gut feeling told her it wasn’t anything as simple as that. One thing she noted gladly, she didn’t feel drugged at all. Confused and scared as hell, yes. But drugged? Whatever had been used to get her wherever this was, it must have worn off.
So , she continued as logically as possible, I’m not hurt, restrained or drugged. Now I just need to figure out where I am .
She shivered once more and looked around. There wasn’t much to go on at all. She knew it was November, but she also knew Palo Alto didn’t get this cold, and she didn’t recognize the flora. So not California then. That left her with few options. Squinting through the thick foliage, she was just able to make out the hazy outline of what could’ve been some part of a building.
Surrounded by nothing but grass, dirt and trees, and no one else in sight, Jess decided that her absolute best option was to make it to whatever she saw through the trees. Taking another deep breath she stepped forward. She winced as she realized that she was barefoot. She grit her teeth and pushed on, trying her best to ignore the horrible combination of pain and cold as the branches whipped at her cheeks.
She needed a distraction. Anything but... Sam ! Her mind screamed at her. She resisted the urge to slap herself. When she had gone to sleep she knew that he was going to be getting in. After All, it was Sunday night, and he had his interview on Monday. She had even baked him cookies. God, she was stupid, he was probably worried sick!
She had almost forgotten how protective he could be. He never told her much about his past, when she asked he would just shrug and smile, saying he moved around a lot. But when she had missed the first bus from class, and had gotten home over two hours late because of it, she had found him nearly pulling his hair out from worry. He had refused to let her go the whole night, and had insisted on driving her from then on. She smiled sadly at the memory. She had always wondered why he was so scared, always looking over his shoulder and hers.
Jess didn’t like bad boys, hell if anyone besides Sam had asked her out without a full family history, references and a background check she would’ve turned him down. But Sam, even with all his secrets, was just so kind and sweet, and she couldn’t deny that look of his that made her heart melt every time he used it. Zach and Brady had called it his ‘puppy dog look’.
Jesus, thinking of Sam hadn’t really distracted her in the way she hoped it would’ve. Now her heart hurt along with her feet and face. Just get to the thing , she thought. Get there, find a person or a phone and find out where the hell you are .
Another scary thought invaded her mind. She really didn’t know what day it was either. It had to have been less than a week judging by the fact that her clothes were only dirty from the ground she woke up on and she wasn’t hungry. Although she was getting thirsty. Sighing, she kept going.
It was nearly half an hour before she could begin to make out what she had seen. Of course, she didn’t have a watch so it was hard to tell, but it felt like she had been walking for a while.
It looked to be some sort of low, concrete building, and there was a gravelly dirt road leading up to it. She saw stairs and a large, round metal door set into the wall.
Oh God, please let there be people , she prayed silently. And let them not be psychopaths , she added.
With barely a thought to her conspicuous outfit, she knocked once on the door, as hard as she could. She was both relieved and nervous when she heard a shuffling behind the door. It opened slowly, creaking loudly like it had the oldest hinges in the world.
It was not a face she had expected to see, not at all.
For a moment, she re-thought her earlier assessment that she was not drugged. The man in front of her looked scarily similar to the Dean Winchester she had seen only a few days before, but much older and more worn down.
It almost made her feel better when he looked back at her with an equally, if not more shocked expression. His mouth moved, but no sound came out.
Then she heard it.
The sound was too deep, strange and wrong. But oh so familiar. It struck her to the core.
“Dean? Who is it?”
She barely felt strong arms wrap around her as her vision blurred and she fell into unconsciousness.