REVIVE ▸ d. winchester [2] ✔

Chapter 19

Dean's POV

As I close the driver's side door behind me, an echo carries out around Sam and I. The air was silent; it was as if you could hear a mouse rustling in the woods a mile away.

"He should be here in a few minutes," Sam informs, referring to Bobby who had called no more than an hour ago to check in. Sam makes his way around the car to my side, where I stand still scoping out the area. On one side of the road, the land is flat and bare for as far as the eye can see. The Kansas landscape is dry and dusty, and amongst the snow, I could just make out some of the dead brush lining the poorly paved road we had parked on.

One the other side, the tree line begins no more than ten feet away from the pavement. The trees stand tall and branch out to create a canopy over the parked impala. Although their leaves had long ago fallen, their branches still create an eerie shadow around us.

Not too far down the road there is a break in the trees. It's just barely visible and if not for being marked with a trail head, we would have missed it. The trail head is marked with a 7, the same number as the path Gabriel told us to take towards the rendezvous point. Here, our hike will begin.

Sam appears in front of me, huddled up in many layers of flannels and jackets, and he shoves his hands in his pockets. The wind was brisk out in the open, and I could only hope that as we got into the woods, the weather wouldn't be as unrelenting.

"You good?"

I tear my eyes away from the treeline and look at Sam. Everything from how he stands to the dark circles under his eyes screams exhaustion, but his eyes shine with determination. He knows what is at stake and he won't let fatigue get in the way, just as I won't.

"Yeah," I say, clearing my throat. "How about you? Get enough sleep?" I didn't let it go unnoticed that he was restless the whole way here. I'm certain that if we weren't headed off to where we were, he would have crashed the second he got in the car. But, considering the circumstances, we were both too antsy to sleep.

Sam lets out a small laugh. "I don't think you should be the one to ask me that, considering the amount of sleep you've been getting."

I shrug, nodding as he truly did have a good point. "Whatever," I reply. "You ready to do this?"

I head towards the back of the impala and pull out the keys to open the trunk. Just as I go to slide the key into the lock, Sam puts his hand down, stopping me from doing anything more than stand there.

"Are you ready to do this?" I look up at him and raise an eyebrow.

"Sam, what's with the answering a question with a question? You know I hate that."

He effectively rolls his eyes and brushes off my remark. "Dean, I'm just making sure that we're both ready for this." He pauses, seeming to be looking for the right words. "This whole thing, it hasn't been easy for either of us. And in case you haven't noticed, you have a history of brushing off everything like it's nothing. I don't want you doing that again, okay?"

Sam looks down at me with concern. His words hit me hard with truth, but I don't let him see that. Instead, I simply answer with, "I'll feel better once this is all over."

When he doesn't say anything more, I go to open the trunk again. I lift up the deck lid and prop it open. Just as I go to reach in to grab a backpack, the sound of tires on pavement reaches my ears.

Both Sam and I turn around to find the old, blue truck of Bobby's approach around a curve and park on the side of the road, right behind the impala. Through the windshield, I see Bobby give a small wave over the steering wheel. We both return the favor.