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Dean hated his father for leaving them alone. In a world like this, with man eating zombies and horrible people around just waiting for someone to let their guard down—John had felt Dean, a sixteen year old, alone with two small children. The hatred grew only wider when Dean looked down at his brothers, both of them with their eyes red and their cheeks stained with tears.
Dean tried to make as good as he could for them. He let them play around with some toys in the hotel room they had found. He let them go outside with him when he checked around the area for their father. Sam was content, as much as a child could be. Adam, being smaller, was much more to deal with. He didn’t know any better than to cry when he got scared. Dean couldn’t fault him for that, even when it got them into trouble sometimes.
It had been around a week before Dean officially decided that John either died, or left them. That evening, with the sun shining down on them, the humidity worse than ever, Dean had become unbelievably angry. How could John leave them like this? How could he go out there by himself? Deans respect for his father fell, as did his hope for them living through this difficult time. They were running low on food, Sam was starting to get difficult with his questions about when John was coming home, Adam was getting testy because of the lack of proper food. All of which Dean understood.
But could you blame Dean for starting to get annoyed? A sixteen year old not being able to control his feelings? How unbelievable!
So when Dean went outside, leaving the two children inside to go let off some steam, could you blame him? He didn’t go far, of course he didn’t want to abandon them like their father had, but he went far enough away so he could hit some trees and swing around the knife he had gotten to protect himself.
Sam watched as his older brother left, slamming the door behind him as he grumbled and walked off. A frown fell on his face, his thoughts going astray at the idea that Dean was angry. Adam didn’t happen to notice, luckily he was listening to an old emp3 player that Dean had in his pocket them the whole thing started. It was a privilege to listen to it, especially since it had some…troublesome songs on it that a small child definitely shouldn’t be listening to.
Sam looked away from the window to Adam, going and sitting beside him. He had been reading a book that he found in the drawer beside one of the beds. It was about some type of vampire, which Dean had said was completely stupid and lame; it was interesting enough for Sam to read through. Adam had closed his eyes, laying his head beside Sam’s leg as he continued to listen to the music. Sam could hear the song ‘Pretty Fly For A White Guy’ which always made Sam laugh a little.
The next time Sam looked up from his book, he saw that the sun was starting to slowly go down, casting a shadow inside the hotel room. He looked down at Adam once again, seeing that he had fallen asleep. The Winchester gently put down his book and slid the headphones out of Adam’s ears, turning off the emp3 player and setting it aside to make sure the battery didn’t run out.
Dean wasn’t back yet.
Sam got up from the floor, going over to the window. He pushed the curtain back and looked around the front of the hotel, not seeing his brother anywhere. His eyes quickly darted around, a horrible thought in the back of his mind that Dean might have left them—or worse, that he had been torn apart by a zombie and left for dead. Sam had seen it before, no matter how hard Dean tried to shield his eyes from it, Sam saw it.
”Please be ok.”
Sam whispered to himself, backing away from the window. He remembered Dean always saying that staying so close to the window was a bad idea. ‘Keep it to a minimum, Sammy.’ Is what he always said.
Sam felt his eyes start to water, but he took a breath to stable himself. He needed to be strong right now, as much as he possibly could be. But the idea was still gnawing at the back of his head. Dean had never been gone this long, never, even before the whole zombie apocalypse started. It was a rule, don’t be gone longer than an hour. Of course who could track time right now? But still.
He sighed and sat down on the bed beside Adam, looking down at him.
///////
It was darker now. The sun had gone down around half an hour ago, and Dean wasn’t home. Adam had woken up, begging for something to eat and something to do. Sam did the best he could do. He opened up a bag of rather stale crackers and a jar of peanut butter, making little cracker sandwiches for Adam and himself. It was dark in the room. Sam wished he knew where Dean put the matches for the candles because the darkness was starting to get nerve racking without Dean there.
”Where Dee?”
Adam asked after a while. Sam sighed and make another sandwich for himself.
”He’ll be back, ok?”
That’s the only thing Sam could think of to say. Adam didn’t seem to enjoy the answer, but he quieted himself with another cracker. Sam frowned and looked to the door behind them. Dean always said to keep it locked, but Sam couldn’t bare to lock it when his brother was still out there.
Sam blinked, a sudden noise coming from outside the door. Adam perked up, his eyes going wide. Before Sam could get up and check what it was, Adam had gotten up from the bed and ran over to the door, his little mind thinking only of his brothers arrival. Sam got up behind him, trying to grab his arm before he grabbed the doorknob and opened up the door.
Adam opened the door, the darkness outside making Sam suddenly queezy. That wasn’t Dean, it was obvious when a sudden gurgling noise was heard. Sam quickly grabbed his little brother and pulled him back just as a disgusting looking woman dragged herself to the door and tried to get inside. Adam fell back onto the floor and looked at the zombie in horror, watching as Sam tried to close the door with all his weight, failing as the zombie put her arm through the door.
Sam yelped as he fell back, the door flying open. The zombie women growled and walked forward, biting the air as she tried to get closer to the young boys. Adam’s eyes started to pour with tears as he backed away against the wall. Sam tried to back away as well, failing as the zombie fell down and grabbed his leg with her rotten hand. Sam kicked her face, screaming, which only made Adam more hysterical.
Sam couldn’t help but cry, fearing that he was about to torn apart. He yelled for anyone he could think, Dean, John, his mother Mary—but no body came. Adam finally got to his feet, sobbing uncontrollably as he ran around to behind the zombie and tried to pull her off of his brother, which in turn made the women turn her attention to him. Sam went frozen as the zombies face got closer to Adam’s, its horrible rotting breath going into his face.
Adam wailed, falling back. Sam tried to grab the women back, but to no avail. The undead women’s face got closer to Adam’s, threatening to bite his cheek—she got close, but failed as a shot suddenly went enough her brain, sending her flying back and landing lifeless on Sam. Sam screamed and looked up past her, seeing Dean there with wide eyes and beads of sweat running down his face.
Dean quickly went forward and grabbed the now fully dead zombie, pushing it over and off of Sam. He grabbed his sobbing brother and held him, pulling him to his chest as he moved over and grabbed Adam, who was sobbing wildly, covering his face. Sam hide his face in Deans chest, going dead weight as the teenager tried to sit himself down so they could get be more comfortable.
Deans arms were wrapped around his brothers, his head hanging low as he felt some of his own tears start to run down his face. He pulled them closer in, making them both sit on top of his lap to be sure they weren’t going to go anywhere.
”I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
He said, moving his hands from their shoulders to their heads. Sam whimpered and wrapped his arms around Deans neck, holding onto him tightly. Adam continued to sob uncontrollably, his tears getting into Deans grey tee shirt.
They must have sat there for an hour before they had called calmed down. Adam had fallen asleep against his brothers chest, his nose clogged from the amount of boogers he had, while Sam had just grown tired and stayed silent while still holding onto Dean with fear. The eldest Winchester refused to move, never wanting to let go of his brothers again.
His eyes never left the dead women beside them. The feeling of unimaginable guilt inside his head that he had felt his own brothers, his baby brothers, alone. He wouldn’t ever be leaving them again, and that he would promise until the end of time.