As the Light Dies (47 page)

They traced their way around the perimeter of the athletics field calling out now and then but never getting an answer. Occasionally the ash thinned out just enough and Dean could look around but nothing showed up, there were no signs that anyone had passed this way. They pushed on until they started approaching the tiered spectator seating banking. Dean did
n’
t hold any hope that he was going to find the men or any clues to their whereabouts here, but h
e’
d be able to say he had
n’
t left any stone unturned
.
Not one
!

They reached the spectator seating and Dean saw that the equipment store housed underneath was closed and locked. He gave the padlock a reassuring tug as he passed just in case.... it was locked. They walked along the front of the seating until they reached the first set of access steps that led up to the back row and Dean stepped in. The lower half of the bank of folding seats was buried under a layer of discoloured snow. He scanned the rows of seats. No-one was here and nothing was out of place. There was nothing to suggest anyone had been here recently
.
No surpris
e
he thought and sighed as Sam took off up the steps in front of him sniffing between the rows.

“
Go get em boy
,”
said Dean just like he did when he picked up the scent of some critter in the woods when they were out walking and he followed him up getting out of the bitter wind for a minute.

The untouched dirty snow crunched under his feet, it sounded loud within the seating canopy, and it reminded him of the gate.

That was definitely someone walking around
,
he thought. Though why they did
n’
t answer baffled him. He made his way to the top where it was still mostly clear of dirty snow and started walking along the back row towards the opposite side following Sam. As he reached the halfway mark he unfolded a seat brushed it clean out of habit and sat down.

He felt secure high up and out of the way as he watched the blackened snow rush pass the huge mouth of the canopy, and the lightning as it illuminated the oval field beyond and the blocky leisure centre across the other side. He had no choice but to listen to the howling wind as it blasted the alloy canopy peppering it with the polluted snow and howling around its unyielding edges.

Cool air rushed up through the empty bleacher seating to meet him as he sat hunched over with his elbows on his knees watching and listening. He checked on Sam, he seemed content for now sniffing about the place until thunder crashed in the heavens making him yelp and then growl. Dean actually thought for a second that it felt like it actually made the seating canopy rumble.

He thought about the situation and how none of it made any sense. The mass power cuts, the wide spread illness, even death! The violence and hysteria reported on TV
!
Everythin
g
had started falling apart so quickly, it almost felt like he had been asleep for a week, not ten hours or so. He thought about Brian, Jonathan and Gary. Did they have to evacuate for some reason, had he passed by them unknowingly in this weird shitty weather? Maybe the
y’
d even been ordered out.

What else could’ve happene
d
, he wondered
.
What else could he do
?

He thought for a moment and before long his mind wondered back to his parents and his brother. Once things were sorted out here, however things turned out, they were his main priority, his family and until then he hoped they were all holding up ok. Sam started barking again. Dean looked up with a jolt looking for him, he could
n’
t see Sam anywhere, there was no sign of him.

Dean called out
,
“Sam
!
Sam boy where are you?
C’
mon boy, come back Sam
.
”

The barking continued but still no sign of Sam!

“SHIT!”
he cursed and stood up looking around, he could
n’
t see him, so he started running back along the row of seats and then back down the steps sure that Sa
m’
s barking was coming from that general direction, out in the athletics field somewhere. He slid and slipped the whole way down calling out for Sam worried something was up. As he reached the bottom of the steps he missed a step. He reached out quickly to grab one of the seat backs to save himself but his hand slid clean of the cold plastic and he fell down the last few steps slamming his hip in to the hard concrete at the bottom.

“SHIT!”
he cursed getting back up rubbing his hip and Sam shot passed him running full pelt along the front of the seating enclosure towards the other end barking like a mad dog.

“SAM!
”
Dean yelled after him, but with no effect. Sam carried on and in the space of two seconds he disappeared out of sight. Dean chased after him as fast as he could, forced to limp from the pain in his hip and slowed by the poor visibility. The last thing he wanted to do was run in to something and injure himself even more. He tried listening to Sa
m’
s barks as he ran trying to home in on them, and tha
t’
s when he heard the distinct metallic rattle of the chain link fence.

What the hell
,
he thought
.
He’s climbing under the damn fence!

“SAM
!
COME BACK
,”
he yelled but it was no good, Sam was on to something. Thoughts that someone had been following them from the other side of the fence ran through Dea
n’
s mind as he remembered the footfalls over by the gate. The fence shook and rattled again up ahead. Dean pushed on as fast as he dared running totally blind in the dirty snow. His injured hip cried out in protest. He called out repeatedly for Sam, calling him to come back, but it was useless. Sam did
n’
t take the slightest bit of notice.

“
Fucking dog
!”
Dean muttered under his breath as he came to the end of the seating canopy, and right then over to his right he caught a glimpse of Sam shuffling under the fence.

“SAM!”
he shrieked rushing to try and stop him but he did
n’
t have a chance. Sam disappeared in a flash and ran off in to the black snow barking out of control.

All Dean could do now was wait, and listen
.“
Shit
!”
he said gripping on to the fence feeling useless. He thought about trying to climb over but thought better of it, if he injured himself on the landing the others did
n’
t have a clue where he was to come and help him, he could be stuck for a while. Then, he heard a change in tone to Sa
m’
s barking. There was somethin
g
differen
t
about his bark, he thought it sounded softer, if that was the right word for it. Excited even. Then Dean heard a voice
.
There is someone out there
,
he thought.

“
SAM
,”
he yelled
.“
Come back boy,
c’
mon
.
”

He turned his head side on against the fence and cupped a hand around his ear deflecting the wind trying to listen, and there it was again
,
someon
e
on the other side said something. Sam whined playfully. Dean was stumped
.“
What the hell
,”
he said under his breath totally confused. He listened as Sam whined and barked totally convinced they were of a playful nature. He just could
n’
t get his head around it, he tried to make out the voice, but it was too faint, muffled by the wind and drowned out by Sam until suddenly Sam turned defensive again!

He started barking and howling like before and then he erupted in to an all out barking frenzy. Dean was baffled, he was frightened and confused about what was happening to Sam.

“
HELLO? Wh
o’
s there
?”
he yelled not sure what else to do, he was starting to think he was going to have to make the climb when over Sa
m’
s growling and snarling and barking, and the wind, Dean heard someone call out but it was just too faint to hear as it was carried on the wind. It was so faint that Dean was
n’
t even sure what he really heard
.
Was it even a voic
e
, he wondered. Sam was really going at it, barking like he was in attack mode but Dean thought it sounded like he was coming back, getting closer. He hoped so. Then he heard footfalls. They were fast and the
y
wer
e
coming nearer!

“
DEAN? HEY DEAN
?”
someone yelled.

Dea
n’
s heart completely missed a beat and his stomach flipped.

“
DEAN, HEY WHERE ARE YOU
?”
the voice called again.

Dean just could
n’
t believe it. He just could
n’
t. He yelled back
,“
GAVIN! IS THAT YOU
?”
and before he got an answer Gavin burst through the ash and crashed in to the high chain link fence.

All the air rushed out of him as he crashed in to the fence.

“
GAVIN
!”
blurted Dean in shock
.“
HOLY SHIT Gavin! Are you ok? Where the hell did you come from
?”
said Dean in shock as Gavin scrambled back on to his feet panting hard.

“
We gotta go Dean
.
We’ve gotta get inside!”

“
What! Why? Wha
t’
s wrong
?”
said Dean.

Gavin jumped up on to the fence without answering and started climbing and a horrible gurgling scream shrieked from within the ash louder than Sa
m’
s barking. Dean snapped his head around to look as Sam barked like Dean had never heard him bark before
!
“
I’m being chased, we need to get inside. Start calling Sam we’ve gotta get him back, NOW!”

“
CHASED
!”
said Dean.

“
Just fucking call him back Dean. Get him back, NOW
!”
blurted Gavin as he reached the top and flung himself over. Dean repeatedly yelled for Sam trying to make himself heard over Sa
m’
s desperate barks and these new sounds. Sam was ready though; h
e’
d been waiting for Gavin to reach safety and as soon as he touched down landing in a heap beside Dean, he bounded back through the murky black snow towards them.

He reappeared through the ash just ahead of them and shot back under the fence to rejoin them
.“
FUCKING RUN
!”
Gavin hollered and took off towards the leisure centre. Dean turned and ran with him after checking Sam was ok. He had to run hard to catch up with his little brother.

Gavin was sprinting flat out. The screech called out again behind them. Dean was trying to get his head around the situation, he was shocked and overjoyed to suddenly have his brother by his side, but he wondered what the hell was going on. What kind of trouble could he possibly be in that had him so scared, and why, and who, was chasing him?

Sam bounded along just ahead of them keeping their pace easily. He kept stopping to look back, checking they were still in the clear and every so often h
e’
d stop, face back the way the
y’
d come and bark hysterically for a few seconds, standing ground as the brothers ran passed him. Then h
e’
d turn and run and catch them up again and repeat the action all over again.

Sam was just catching them both up again after a brief barking fit when Dean heard the most bizarre sound rang out behind them, it was loud and drowned out everything else. It was so strange that he thought that if the bottom of the canal suddenly disappeared and started to drain, then it would sound just like that, but probably not as loud. Sam erupted in to a barking frenzy before h
e’
d even spun around when he heard it
.“
What the hell i
s
tha
t
?”
said Dean
.“
Who the hell have you pissed off
?
”

“I’
ll tell you when w
e’
re inside
.
Just keep running!”