Night 60: Road to Doyleton

[freewill]

[From here.]

While it had taken some time for Dean to get the bus started, now there seemed to be little trouble with getting it moving. It was a far cry from the Impala -- even Castiel knew that -- but it seemed like so long as it had a steering wheel and traveled on land, Dean knew how to drive it.

Despite Dean's suggestion, however, Castiel wasn't willing to go sit down, even though there were more than enough seats to choose from. While he doubted that most monsters would be able to get to them when they were in the bus, that didn't mean he was comfortable enough to not keep some sort of look out. Figuring that Dean would need to keep his eye on the road ahead (it wasn't well-lit, after all, and they were surrounded by a thick forest on either side), Castiel took on the task of looking through the windshield at the area around them. He remained standing, slightly to the side from where Dean was sitting, and grabbed for a bar overhead to keep his balance as the bus passed over unsteady ground. If something tried to ambush them, he wanted to be aware of it.

None of this felt particularly safe, but that was almost comfortable for someone like Castiel. What he and Dean were doing now -- it reminded him of past times, of times that Dean had not yet experienced.

"You know the way, correct? There should only be one road." Still, if they got turned around or took a wrong turn, it could turn very bad for them.

Comments

Any ideas on what they should get attacked by?

[kindalikedit]

Castiel, breathing down his neck didn't count as parking your butt and chilling.

Dean wasn't even sure if he was just imagining Castiel riding his nuts on this, he was just that close. All Dean knew was the angel standing that close made him nervous. Not nervous in the "dude, please tell me she doesn't have crabs" kind of way, more like nervous in the way you get when another guy is just...standing there. Staring. Wearing enough clothes that he could totally hide anything in there. Dean knew he was just being paranoid and that if Castiel wanted to gank him, he'd had plenty of chances, but still. He plain wasn't used to having someone standing there that close. Hell, even Sam would've probably sat down by now.

Dean had to resist the urge to glance over. No rubber-necking. Rubber-neck and he could pitch the bus over the road and right into the trees if he didn't pay attention to what they were doing.

"Keep going down work for you?" Dean at least wanted to say that driving buses aside, the very least he could do was pay attention to the road the other times he'd been this way. "Dude, you gonna stand the whole time?"

Dean didn't look away from the road. Even putting on the high beams didn't do much in terms of the whole visibility thing and he wasn't happy to say that the distance he could see ahead of him was pretty much crap. If something darted across the road, they were pretty much running it down. He just hoped it wasn't a person. There was no way another patient could've made it this far on foot, right? Not in that amount of time. Or at least they'd know not to jump in front of buses.

Then again, this was humans they were talking about. Seeing signs of humans and a patient might suddenly jump out trying to wave him to stop. Dean seriously hoped that wasn't gonna happen.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

There would be no need for rubber-necking to know that something was behind the bus. Nothing close enough to see yet, but a swelling overture of bays and howls was beginning to bound through the trees, filling the air behind and around them as they grew closer and closer at an alarming rate. Soon the patients would see the owners of these monstrous voices for themselves — three hulking and terrifyingly fit hounds, if they could even be called that. Well over twice the size and mass of normal hounds, the demonic, split-faced abominations rushed out of the undergrowth, gaining on the bus until they could match stride with it. Their seeking yellow eyes gleamed in the light of the waning moon, fixed on their target as they barked and boomed.

Their master would not be seen yet, but oh, he was there. If the pair on the bus were not completely distracted by the hounds that were about to begin ramming their vehicle from the sides, they might hear a sound like far-off thunderclaps further back in the woods.

So rarely did the opportunity to perform his duties come these days. What better opportunity to take than the chance to bring down patients in possession of something so unusually advantageous? They would be stopped. He would not fail.

Armed with a short but sturdy sword and a steed as monstrous as he, the huntsman rode, waiting for the sound of the vehicle toppling ahead.

[Eryn]

[freewill]

Castiel honestly didn't see what use sitting down would be. If anything, he should be on the alert should anything go wrong. If the bus crashed, it was true that he might be in more danger of sustaining injuries, but as far as he knew Dean was a skilled driver. His car, old though it was, had survived all manner of danger. This bus was much larger, but if there was one thing Dean seemed to do a startling amount, it was drive.

He was about to explain himself, but before he could get a word out, the rumble of the bus was interrupted by the sounds of howling. Castiel immediately stiffened. That could only mean one thing: they were being hunted.

"Focus on driving," Castiel said, suddenly more than just a bystander. He was giving out orders, falling into battle mode because if there was one thing he was good at, it was holding back hostile forces. He moved away from his spot at Dean's side and marched down the bus, pulling up next to one of the windows to see what exactly they were dealing with.

These canines were much worse than the one that he had been assaulted by his first night here. In fact, they looked like what he imagined hellhounds would, if he were able to actually see them. For a moment he wondered if it would bring back bad memories for Dean, until he remembered that he hadn't been dragged to Hell by them. Not yet.

It was going to be difficult to fight them off when he was in an enclosed vehicle, but if they ignored the dogs they might end up tipping the bus over. Castiel drew forward and started to open the window. If he was lucky, one would try to get at him through it, and then he would be ready to attack.

[kindalikedit]

Dean almost shot back that he didn’t need a friggen angel backseat driving for him.

The bus shuddered as something hit it from the side. Dean shut up and focused on driving, trying to keep the bus from leaning all its weight to the side and wishing that he’d been able to get something with a lower center of gravity here. The tires squealed, the bus swaying as Dean fought to keep them from flipping over. Another deafening whud of something slamming into them. He risked a glance to the side and caught a glimpse of eyes, blazing yellow through the darkness and giving him a jolt as he realized they were bouncing along like the thing was running next to them. Oh hell. That was way, way bigger than the dogs back in the Institute. Looked twice as nasty too. Why wasn’t he surprised they’d attracted some monsters, between the noise and the headlights? He had no idea what Castiel planned to do with the window but Dean had to fight and use every driving trick in the book to keep the bus upright.

Dean was entirely focused on driving. There were already far more close calls than he would’ve liked – at one point he could feel the bus start a slow shift from four wheels to two, before it thunked down with a squeal of metal. Drool was coating the window near his leg in long strings. Luckily the ugly sons of bitches didn’t have hands to start opening the doors like some whacked-out version of Jurassic Park, but considering the dents he could see already forming, they could probably get in with brute force if they had enough time.

If Castiel had any angel juice left, Dean figured now was the time to blow it on these things before they flipped the bus. He couldn't keep this up forever.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

Two demon hounds were running along the driver's side of the bus, and were having much better luck at shifting the vehicle's centre of gravity. The third, which had run in from the other side, soon joined when it realised which direction the bus would most likely topple in, and began ramming from that side as well. The hounds were smarter than the average institute dogs; huntsmen would settle for no less.

The beasts were still not quite at the level of human intelligence, however. Meat was meat, and the easier it appeared to get at, the stronger the desire to snap it up got. The dog closest to the front of the bus fell hard for Castiel's ploy, letting out a ravenous sound from deep in its throat as its slavering jaws drew closer to the man at the window.

The other two dogs, however, were able to keep ramming away at the bus. The smell of human flesh was lost to the wind further back. So the bus teetered further and further toward the tipping point. Just one or two more hits, and it would likely go over.

And all the while, the huntsmen rode on, listening carefully ahead as the thunderous hooves of his steed sped through the trees.

[freewill]

The way that the bus was swerving and pitching was more severe than Castiel had expected, and in the end he had to grab for the back of one of the seats in order to keep his balance. His other hand was still tightly gripping his blade as he waited for one of the hounds to come to him.

It didn't take long, thankfully, as it was becoming more and more clear that this needed to be dealt with quickly. The problem was that there were three of them and only one of him.

As the dog's gaping mouth snapped up toward the window, Castiel leaned forward. He was putting himself in danger, but this would be the only way to get a hit in on the creature, and as things were he had the more advantageous position. He waited for the dog to jump up again and then slashed out with his sword, aiming for its eyes.

The other two hounds were still ramming the bus, however, and they were strong enough that Dean might not be able to keep it upright. Castiel wasn't sure how much further it was until they reached the town, but he doubted Dean could keep the bus going for that long.

Which meant that he needed a proper distraction.

Castiel pulled away from the window and started down the aisle. "Keep driving!" he called back to Dean over his shoulder as he moved toward the exit doors at the middle of the bus. "I'll try to draw them away."

[kindalikedit]

"How?" Dean yelled over his shoulder, tempted to look but not daring too.

Seriously -- and he knew this was way too life and death to be thinking about this -- did Castiel expect to "draw them away" when they were in a bus? Unless he planned to jump right out and pull a Van Damme which...yeah. Might look cool but that was about it.

Dean had to fight more and more with the wheel and the bus itself against the dogs trying to flip them. Was this what hell-hounds looked like? They made black dogs look like pussies in comparison, these things probably some of the ugliest things he'd ever seen (and this was speaking from years of experience here). All he knew was he took one look at those damn teeth and claws as they banged up against the window and decided he wasn't too jazzed at the idea of running into those for an up close and personal experience. Dean jerked the wheel, the bus skidding and starting to fishtail on him.

Whatever Castiel had in mind, he hoped he was already doing it.

The bus shifting weight again felt like it was in slow mo. Dean knew in that long second that this time they were going into a roll no matter what he did and there was just no stopping in. He remembered throwing himself down the aisle, trying to push himself somewhere where he wouldn't go flying out the window.

And that was when the world suddenly turned upside down, glass exploding everywhere as metal shrieked and twisted.