SPN/DA Fic: Aftershock One
Okay, I can’t put the Bang-Verse down. I’ve started a bunch of stories that I’m just gonna call Aftershocks for now. Weird no-where side stories that occur during, before or after With a Bang.

Also… here have a song from the soundtrack: WITH A BANG.

(thanks to boo for sending that awesome song after weeping sniffling through chapter 15 with me. )

If anyone is actually interested in a bunch of songs I’ve collected for this verse please let me know in the comments and I’ll start putting up the music files. ♥

Title: Aftershock One - Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen & Sixteen
Also: Some Minor Tremors
accompaniment(s) to: With a Bang
Author: Mink
Rating: SPN/DA Crossover - PG - Gen – AU in the year 2020
Spoilers: General (for all aired episodes)
Disclaimers: SPN & DA & characters are owned by their various creators.
Summary: After two worlds collide and all three explode, Dean drives north into no man's land.



Alec sure could sleep.

Dean thought he had the act down to a science but the kid put his skills at achieving unconsciousness to shame. He occasionally checked the tangled pile of blankets and sleeping bags in the rear view for any signs of life. Whenever Dean pulled over on the shoulder to take a leak he’d ask the pile if it needed to relieve itself too. The pile rarely responded and when it did, Dean didn’t understand much outside Alec’s drowsy indifference to basic bodily needs.

When Alec also didn’t touch the bottled water or the food Dean began to remember all the things he’d read about X5s. It was easy to forget the kid mumbling in his sleep had been crafted to withstand a lot more than long rides in a car.

A government designed, demonic inclined, walking, talking killing machine.

Right.

Dean quickly found out that any volume of music didn’t seem to bother him either. Neither did high speed turns while wearing no seat belt. He found himself playing the most scratchy Quiet Riot tapes he owned on the worst roads just to get Alec to flip over from time to time to avoid bedsores.

Sam was doing a lot of the same in the passenger side with the added bonus of some snoring. However, he woke up periodically like a normal person to offer to drive but Dean just waved him off. Dean didn’t mind all the extra solo hours behind the wheel. Listening to the radio while everyone else around him dreamed was as close to being alone as he ever wanted to get anyway. He’d get his rest soon enough. But first he wanted to get them as far away into nowhere as they could go without putting skis on the car and taking a tour of the Arctic Circle.

The temperature got lower and the towns got smaller.

He took long and unmarked alternative routes to avoid the diesel nomads. The modern day highway pirates liked to roam up in the north country now that the law had all but vanished from the fringes of the providences. Dean stopped in a few of the abandoned towns to roll the dice at the gas pumps. Every now and then you got lucky for a gallon or two. More importantly there was usually water to fill up the jugs.

But all the sparsely populated outposts started to dwindle once Dean passed the middle of what used to be Alberta. After that the major cities ceased to appear on the sides of the highway where the pre-Pulse maps said they should be. The exit signs were still there of course. A few billboards for a Dennys and a Motel 6. But besides some asphalt and a few old water towers looming through the trees, there wasn’t much left but the wildlife.

After almost four days of non-stop driving, Dean started waking up to the exciting sensation of gliding off into the emergency lane. He figured that made it high time to make more than a pit stop. By that evening he’d located a likely spot for more than a jump on the battery and a liter of oil. Civilization got far and few between around here and when he finally got to log some blackout time he wanted it to be on a real life mattress.

He parked on the one unpaved muddy road that served as main street. The town had a few sentries walking around with rifles but they didn’t seem concerned with him or the car. From the looks of the hundred or so parked mobiles homes and trucks, the place seemed to get its share of traffic off the main road of regular travelers. Dean quickly determined that the tiny population of the settlement might have everything they required.

Food, fuel and a room they could lock for the night.

When Dean cut the engine he heard a groan from the backseat. Alec slowly dug himself up from under a pile of blankets and blinked wide sleepy eyes at the tall trees and all the snow covered scenery. The creak of the back door roused Sam enough to realize they’d stopped. Dean watched Alec stumble around for a few minutes in the snow like he’d just come back from the dead.

Alec looked around the one road shanty town and stretched his arms over his head. “Are we there yet?”

Dean was wondering when he’d hear that phrase come out of his mouth. “Does this look like Minnesota to you?”

“No idea,” Alec admitted. “I’ve never been there.”

Dean pointed up the ravine that the settlement had filled with trailers and an electrical tower that was pilfering off another on the other side of a small mountain range. “If you wanna head up that way you’ll see some Alaska.” He felt proud of the distance he’d brought them. If he really wanted to show off he could have looked up the name of the peaks rising on the horizon, majestically capped with white and all that crap.

“Looks like a real nice hike,” Alec zipped his coat up and bounced on his heels to generate some heat. “Not really into nature.”

Dean jerked a thumb at the gas station behind them. “Be a pal and go inquire within if this dump has a place somewhere that rents rooms.”

“Then what?”

“Then we sleep.”

“Oh,” Alec yawned and looked around with even less interest. “I’m not really that tired.”

“Then I’ll inquire within and you can do whatever it is you do.” Dean glanced down the street at the only bar around. “Don’t stay out all night. People out here get a little jumpy about strangers. Hide your barcode and don’t talk to anyone. Pay for your own drinks and don’t hustle any games. Keep your phone on and—“

“Whoa,” Alec breathed warm air into his cupped hands. “Are you freakin’ kidding me?”

Dean took a few moments to realize that no, he indeed wasn’t. “Sorry Junior, those are house rules. You listen and obey or you don’t get to wander around all night in a town I don’t know with people I’ve never met.”

“It’s just a bar,” Alec shrugged. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Dean grinned at the kid’s sheer and beatific idiocy. “I’ll call you when I get settled in. Pick up or I’ll come lookin'.” Alec was half way down the block but Dean knew his ears could hear everything he said. “And if I have to come looking for you in my boxer shorts I will include an ass kicking.”

“Where’s he going?”

Sam had finally extracted himself from the car and was looking around like they’d landed on the moon.

“I dunno,” Dean shrugged. “Out.”

“Jesus Dean,” Sam tossed up his hands. “We stop for the first time in days and you let the kid take off the first chance he gets?”

Dean looked around the minuscule town with its whole entire one road. “Where’s he gonna go? And the kid isn’t that much of a kid if you haven’t noticed—“

“I just don’t think he should be walking around this town alone,” Sam shifted his duffel from shoulder to shoulder. “Anything could happen.”

Dean tried not to smile at the look on his brother’s face. Parenthood sure was a kick to the balls all right. “He has a phone,” he assured him. “And about a billion dollars worth of genetic enhancement in the off chance that he may need to defend himself. Honestly? I think it was a little cold of him to leave our sorry asses alone out here. If anyone is gonna get hurt it’s probably gonna be me—“

“Hey, check that out,” Sam said in half wonder. “There’s a welcome sign.”

The gas station was toasty warm inside. Dean saw a small kitchen in the back and his hope revived that there was always someone looking to accept some cash for some much needed services.

“Hello!” Sam called out. “Anyone here?”

“By the way he’s 21, dude.” Dean leaned over the counter to see if the attendant on duty might be taking a pot-break. “What do you wanna do? Give him a curfew and an allowance?”

“That sounds reasonable,” Sam nodded. “What like, midnight or something?”

“Christ.”

“I just think there should be some guidelines we should all adhere to make us all comfortable with the new living arrangement.”

“A Winchester with a curfew, huh?” Dean said. “That’s gotta be a first.”

Sam followed him to the back of the garage. “Dad gave out curfews all the time.”

“I never had one.”

“Well, that’s because you were perfect.”

“That’s true.” Dean conceded. “However, I also knew how to take care of myself.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Okay, easy, easy,” Dean backed out of striking range. “All I am sayin' is that when you got into fights, you never came out the other side lookin’ real hot.”

A woman suddenly appeared in a flowered housecoat and holding a wrench.

“Hi there,” Dean politely greeted her. “Do you happen to have any rooms available—“

“Only got one room and its twenty bucks cash,” she pointed at a tiny key attached to a rusted hubcap hanging on the wall. “Water is only on from 3AM to 3:30. No fights. No parties. No pets.”

“Sounds perfect,” Dean snagged the over sized key chain. “Can we get some extra towels?”

“No towels.”

“Right.”

“You need any repairs?” she motioned with the wrench. “I got some new mufflers in and a few fuel pumps.”

“No thanks.”

“He with you?” she asked.

Dean turned to see Alec standing around bored on the sidewalk just outside the door. Sam let out a sigh of relief that Dean could physically feel like a shot of whiskey. Rubbing at his head, he wondered how much of that connection was still hanging through the air between him and every mood Sam felt like having. “Uh, yeah. How many beds that room got?”

“One.”

“That’s all we need.”

Sam and Alec could share the floor if they needed any more beauty sleep. Dean followed as his brother hastily headed outside. He didn’t want to admit it but he was kind of happy to see Alec there too. Mostly because he wanted a full night of rest uninterrupted by angry mobs, angry women or law enforcement of any kind.

“So?” Dean asked. “What happened?”

“I lost it all already.”

“Lost what?” Sam was looking him over for any signs of violence. “What did you lose?”

“My money,” Alec said. “I figured I’d just hit the hay with you guys. You know, call it a night.”

Dean whistled.

Losing all your cash within ten minutes of hitting town was a record that he hadn’t even accomplished in his long and varied career. “Dice?” he asked.

“Chickens.”

Dean brightened. Chicken fights meant dead chicken and that meant a possibly decent dinner upon whenever he woke up. He tossed the car keys in the air and smiled when Alec caught them without even looking. “Go park her somewhere safe,” he told him. “And then bring all the blankets and stuff from the back.”

“Should I use winter camouflage or just basic?”

Dean stifled a surge of pride. He hadn't heard a question like that since the good old days when their dad used to hang around a ton of hardcore survivalists. “I think basic should be fine,” he decided. “Just don’t cram her anywhere that’ll scratch up the paint.”

“Yes, sir.”

Alec took off at a run.

This day was just getting better and better.




go to part 2