Day Is Gonna Come

15. Stranger in a Strange Land

"Basically, you need some freak dead? I got you."

Mary checked the gun. In front of her, Maggie was helping another survivor with his wounds.

"A rawhead did this?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah. Outside Phoenix. They're faster than they look," a second man said. Maggie extracted a fang from the wound. "Meaner, too."

"So, so gross."

The door creaked open. A man walked in and asked, "Soup's on. Who's eating?"

"Right here," the second man said.

"Yeah, I'll–" a woman was cut off.

Sam entered the bunker and walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, right here. How about you guys?" the first man wondered.

"I'll have soup," man two said.

"Sam," Mary greeted.

"Hey, Mom," Sam replied, hugging Mary.

"How was Atlanta?"

"It was, uh... It was a bust. The woman who claims she saw an "angel"... was..." He snorted. "Let's just say I think she had one too many hits of the brown acid, you know?"

"Sam, we're gonna find him. Ketch is working that thing in London. Castiel is in Detroit. I know it's been three weeks since Dean..." She paused. "Something will break. It has to."

"Yeah. Yeah, you keep saying that." Sam yawned.

"Have you slept? At all. Sam, you need to rest. Go and lay down."

"Mom–"

"Chief," a man called.

"Hey."

"Good to have you back." The man handed Sam a bowl of soup.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. Word is we got some vamps heading East on I-90. Gyspy types. Pickin' off truckers mostly."

"Last body got drained and dropped just outside La Crosse six hours ago," man two added.

Sam thought for a moment. "Okay. Um... All right. Get me teams of two. I want watch points every 50 miles. If you see something, say something. Maggie, can you hack the traffic cams on the freeway?"

"Um... no," Maggie replied.

"Right. Right. Of course. Sorry. Um, I got it. Thank you." He gave his soup to Mary. "Uh, please. Would you call in Sharon and her crew? We're gonna need all hands on deck here."

"Yes, sir," man three said.

"Thank you." Sam sat and started typing on his laptop.

Mary approached him again. "Sam-"

"I'm good."

Mary put a hand on his shoulder. Sam looked at her. "I'm good. I am. Hey, how're Jack and Jayci?"

JACK'S ROOM

Jack fell on his back, groaning. He was wearing boxing gloves. Bobby was staring down at him. Seylah stood back and watched, every so often encouraging Jack.

"Watch for that left," Bobby warned.

"I never had to fight before," Jack admitted.

"Mm-hmm. Life's a little different when you can't just zap people around, huh?"

"A lot different. Yeah."

Seylah smiled. "I think you're doing pretty good, Jack, powers or not."

Bobby helped him get back on his feet. "You'll get used to it. Truth be told, this stuff didn't come all that easy for me, either. Had my ass handed to me more times than I can count."