#to back track to the crypt door after picking up pretty boy.

[princehendir]

I feel like I fucked up the opening of the game tbh I may go back to the earliest save I have and start from scratch.

[fandomsofafeather]

Save Me From The Dark

Supernatural reversal!au

Angelic!dean

Human!cas

CHAPTER 1: DEATH'S DOOR

Introduction:

It's been months...

I can't take this life anymore...

I've given too much...

I'm sorry...

Castiel Novak the righteous man is the one to be the true sword. A vessel of sorts and he doesn't know it yet but he's in for an eye opening experience. His brother is the rebel of the two not always following familial orders from their father, and Balthazar is a loose cannon in certain situations. 

     Per usual they are traveling the states far and wide to a job and just waiting for something to strike. Feeling the sense of hunger kicking in for both 

of the brothers they stop at a tiny restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Balthazar, "I'll grab food just keep the car warm". Cas nods slightly to balthazar hardly paying attention and listening to the hum of the radio. It takes a minute for castiel to realize his brother has completely disappeared. He gets out of the car and frantically goes into the restaurant to find defiled and dead employee's. 

     Cas, “son of a b-” BALTHAZAR!! WHERE ARE YOU!? He pulls his gun out as a precaution. He searches the place inside and out but his brother is long gone. He gets back into the car and drives immediately to Raphael's place.

He shows up in distress and Raphael is reading up on some lore as cas busts in like a bat out of the belfry tower. 

   Raph! I need your help, Balthazar is missing and there was sulfur so I'm thinking demons took him. Calmly Raphael replies, "what do you need Castiel? What do you mean demons took your brother? What could he possibly be needed for?" Cas, "I need a tracking spell maybe I can find him that way." Alright, I'll see what I can find and Castiel we will find him I promise you. 

      Balthazar wakes up in an abandoned town, now very acutely aware of the situation and is on high alert. Hello!? Is anyone out there!? No response for now but he reaches for his gun and it's gone. Damn, he says and marches out in search of someone, anyone. It takes a while but finally a noise is heard.    

      Balthazar, "HEY! WHO'S THERE? A timid and scared voice answers. They sound hurt as well, hello..? I need help, I'm hurt pretty badly... Balthazar now calmly goes into the building to find a short, light brown hair, pale from blood loss. M-my name is Nazeren I've been trapped here for months. 

    My name is Balthazar now softer in tone, hey tell me what hurts I can maybe patch you up just enough. I've lost a lot of blood, I think it's my leg and it's a pretty deep cut. I'll need stitches. Balthazar quickly works on the injury gathering enough material to make a tourniquet to stop the blood and maybe save this girl's life. Nazarene, "Wow I-I didn't know I'd be getting a doctor's worth of treatment." Balthazar, "I'm no doctor kid I just know how to make things work." 

Castiel and Raphael finally figured out a tracking spell and were able to locate within a thousand miles. They notice a pattern of old churches and railways. Castiel, "a devils trap seriously? What are they trying to keep in?"     

       He thinks to himself quiet, and then it hits him. They are trying to keep in the gates of hell these churches were built way back when holy! Samuel Winchester was the most famous hunter of his time and he was so good at what he did he was able to retire out of life along with trading off his most prized possession...the colt it was the master piece of equipment. It's bullets would kill anything and everything. 

     Raphael takes a deep breath, "We've still got over a thousand miles of ground to cover." Cas, "we'll split up, I'll start at the center you take the outer portion and we will meet in the middle." Raphael, "What happens if we get cut off from each other or worse?" We need to prepare ourselves this is bigger than the three of us". Hell if your father knew you were going after demons he'd be pissed. Castiel, "your point? They have my brother!" I have to do this and I don't care if it kills us both at least we went down swinging! 

      Raphael sighs knowing there won't be a way to calm Castiel until his brother is found and he gathers up as much holy water and even makes a recorded exorcism on his phone just in case. Balthazar now carrying the woman to a more secure place in the abandoned town he notices an old church off in the distance and the cemetery to boot. "What are you looking for?" Nazarene asks. 

     "I'm looking for iron, maybe a safe space so I can maybe find some thread may not be the freshest thing in the world but at least your leg will be stitched up, and maybe we can get outta here, just bare with me for the moment kid," he says just barely listening as he heads over to the church and while noting the cemetery and spots a huge crypt in the middle and a devils trap on the door.

      "Oh no", now realizing what that crypt is and why he's here with Nazarene "Kid we are screwed". Nazarene, "well obviously" she smiles and now out of Balthazar's arms. She's standing like nothing's wrong.  Nazeren, "did you really think that I was here for the good of my health" she says as she pulls out a gun. It looks old 1800's almost and it doesn't help that it looks like the key to that crypt either. Balthazar, "Damn it and I thought it was going to be just fine, I'll help the girl and maybe get out of here but nope." Nazarene cocks the gun and points it at Balthazar.    

    "Well pretty boy let's get this gate open and let some demons out to play!" she sneers. She quickly runs to the crypt's door and sticks the gun in and Balthazar is hot on her heels and tackles her to the ground. Clanking and whirring can be heard from the door. "Hell on earth!" Nazarene smiles sinisterly.  Balthazar rushes to get the gun. Finally, showing up to the party Castiel and Raphael just in time to see the gates to hell open. 

       Castiel, "WE GOTTA GET THIS CLOSED NOW!!" the wind howling as hundreds of demons escape. All three of them rush to shut the doors. They manage to shut them, Castiel pulls the colt from the door and notices it's cocked, he shoots Nazeren and they take off with the colt. 

        Balthazar, "Nice timing brother but how the hell are we going to clean up this mess?" Castiel replies, "I don't know I just know we need to get outta here, ya got that?" Raphael, "I'm glad your ok Balthazar and Castiel we are going to be in so much trouble." They get back and there waiting is Castiel and Balthazar's father Chuck.

         "Where have you three been?" He asks calmly. Uh nowhere, I was working a job, and I was picking up supplies. Hoping that would satisfy their father and ease him into accepting that but he doesn't. Chuck, "liars" as his eyes flick yellow and a smirk is wide on his face. Castiel quickly cocks the gun again and aims it at their father. Balthazar speaks up in a stern and cold tone "what do you want?" 

       Chuck, "all I want is for our leader to play his part ya know and do something great! Ya know it's funny to me when I found out about you two, the boring brothers who will risk it all for each other." Well I'm not gonna stand around and wait for something to happen I'm gonna take matters into my own hands. Suddenly a swift and loud crack is heard by balthazar and castiel. It sounds like bones being broken and immediately Raphael drops to the floor and so does Balthazar.  Castiel, "NO!" he says as it falls on deaf ears and then the demon leaves as chuck drops to the floor as well. 

     Castiel waits a few months and then finally makes the call to go to the crossroads. Broken and beaten cas waits for a demon to come and finally one shows. "Who dare summon me and for what reason?" The demon is stuck in a devils trap. "Aww look what the cat dragged in," the demon almost mocking Castiel. "I wanna make a deal," he says, desperate and tired. Really a hunter making a deal that's just pathetic but fine I'll bring' em back but you screw with the deal they drop. Also you get six months that's it and you go to hell. Hope what your after is worth all this.

Castiel, "deal."

[carrollstreetstation]

blood: a level-by-level breakdown

episode 1: the way of all flesh

the first episode, and the one included in the shareware version. like a lot of shareware episodes, it's generally a sort of mishmash of themes and ideas to provide a reasonable cross section of what a potential buyer could expect from the full game, introducing a small selection of enemies (zombies, the basic cultist and his tommygun counterpart, gargoyles, as well as minor menaces such as rats, the zombie fish, bats and a single grasping hand) as well as about half of the arsenal (up to and including the napalm launcher.) the name is a euphemism (actually a mistranslation from hebrew) for dying.

E1M1: cradle to grave (james wilson) almost every classic FPS game's first level is iconic and the subject of many remakes in other games. let's face it, there's few things a mapper covets more than the E1M1 slot. so here we are with caleb RISING FROM HIS GRAVE. the level is a cemetary and associated funeral home, rather short compared to the immediate next level, but twisting nicely in on itself. the opening room is surprisingly non-descript, just a simple, small crypt. duke nukem 3D in contrast might have dumped you on a fairly blank rooftop but it was a much more dynamic introduction to the game.

after a short couple of encounters in a cemetary you enter the funeral home proper. the chapel is where you get your first taste of the game's tendency to have enemies ambush you from above. up the stairs, past the organ, and through the mortuary, eventually winding up in a small crypt behind the building that leads to the exit. short and simple, but introducing some of the basics -- combat, enemies, secrets, while also showcasing a bit of the game's blackly morbid humor. by 1997 standards it's a gorgeously realized opener, with excellent use of texturing to create a gloomy, creepy setting to shoot zombies in.

E1M2: wrong side of the tracks (craig hubbard) this is where the game really starts to pick up. flowing smartly from the first level -- you start in the same spot you ended the last level, only now the way you came in is sealed off -- you start the level working your way down some train tracks; zombies and cultists stand in your way, and they've been offloading barrels with corpses in them, visible through the glass pane in the side (a reference to the classic zombie film "return of the living dead.") eventually you wind your way around to the front of 'miskatonic station' (heh) and it's lousy with tchernobog troops. they're not just gunning for you either, the zombies are swarming the nameless sadsack innocents that the cult has enslaved.

shoot your way through the station to the incoherent sound of announcements over the PA speaker, answer obscene calls on the public phones, check out pickman's bookshop and stop in for a bit at cask of amontillado. some really good moments here, such as the swarm of zombies breaking through the walls in the foreman's office and the bats flying out of the access tunnel leading off the tracks. it's also one of the best examples of the build engine era's attempts at creating realistic, every-day places to shoot things in.

E1M3: phantom express (james wilson) you've boarded a train and now you have to find a way to get into the engine car. a great opener as the train runs over some hapless folk stuck on the tracks. while the level is literally linear by necessity, it's still a rip-roaring good time as you clear out the cars one by one, culminating in an all-out shootout in the dining car in the back. for 1997 this level was extremely technically impressive; using a conveyor belt effect, they've created the impressive illusion that you're on a fast-moving train across the country. if you fall off, you die, so don't fall off. the conclusion of the level is quite dynamic, as you overload the engine and it explodes, ending the level.

E1M4: dark carnival (kevin kilstrom with revisions by james wilson) blood's pitch black sense of humor is on full display here. after the train derails you pick your way through the ruins until you reach a dark carnival full of wonders. a ghastly ticket collector sics zombies on you after you jump the line, and more zombies and cultists (and mimes) crowd the carnival from end to end. the midway has games of chance -- a shooting gallery, or the opportunity to field goal some severed heads for a prize. in the big tent is the tightrope over a pit of snakes, the big act of everyone's favorite circus freak, jojo the idiot boy. this is also where you meet your first gargoyles, when the carousel comes to life -- a good scare, there. on the way out, you have your options of where to go, even though the bridge collapsed: take a dive and swim to the exit, or cross the remains of the bridge to the secret level, provided you've found and remember the passcode. also: a delightfully vicious secret duke nukem cameo.

E1M8: house of horrors (james wilson) in case you weren't done with the carnival theme, E1M8 provides you with the ultimate carnival ride. the opener is pretty great, with a big horrible clown mouth you have to climb through; the walls are fleshy and gross, giving you the sense that maybe this might be more than just a carnival ride... it's an extremely linear affair as the water ride ferries you down a long winding tunnel, complete with ambushes and a few hilariously ineffectual jumpscares. the finale has you jumping out a window into a back lot for a big showdown before finding your way back to the regular ending of E1M4.

E1M5: hallowed grounds (nick newhard, craig hubbard, terry hamel) a major thematic change, one taking more after doom or quake than the usual "duke nukem for goths" that this game is. on rare occasion (well, half of episode four does it) the game decides music isn't necessary and turns it off for a level. deep, gutteral chanting, wind and thunder are your only soundtrack as you blast your way through a creepy temple. the cult's armies are out in full force here, lurking around every corner and coming at you in packs, with lots of ambushes from above and below. it's a long, winding nightmare that repeatedly loops in on itself. there are a few hints on how to complete the level, and you'd better heed them, because choosing the wrong door at the finale means fiery death. it's all burning torches and glowing candles, making this level a dark, moody affair, and one of the best-looking in the game.

E1M6: the great temple (terry hamel with revisions by james wilson) the climax of the episode is a big quake-style temple in the mountain, initially a linear affair as you work your way through some caverns up into the temple proper, only to switch back on itself several times. zombies, cultists and gargoyles are absolutely freaking everywhere. the level is highly reminiscent of quake in both layout and aesthetic, though as you near the upper areas and get a good look at just how high up you are it takes on a different vibe. plenty of traps, indiana jones style; plenty of firefights too, the best one being a huge shitshow in a room with a ramp that lines the walls, every inch of it covered in assholes to blow up -- and there's a dual akimbo powerup right there for you to grab.

E1M7: altar of stone (james wilson) the grand finale is just a simple boss level, though it'd make a good bloodbath level with its round shape, height variations and small dimensions. other than a couple of trash mobs nothing much happens until you step onto the central platform, at which point the biggest enemy you've seen yet, the huge stone gargoyle cheogh, comes after you. he doesn't have much in the way of attacks -- mostly just flies around and shoots electric blasts out of his eyes -- but he takes an enormous amount of punishment, shrugging off even your napalm launcher. upon prevailing, you're treated to a CGI cutscene that's far darker than its goofy early-90s models give it credit for.

final thoughts: for a shareware episode this is a fairly eclectic offering. the cemetary level sets the tone for the rest of the episode, but it's the train station that most ties in with the game's roots as a horror-themed response to duke3D. the train level is a technical marvel by 1997 standards, but it's probably the carnival levels (which are a clear reference to "something wicked this way comes") that give the episode its most iconic images, as carnival themes keep popping up. the back half of the episode with its sprawling temples really drive home the gothic horror vibe that the game goes for, as well as showcasing some of the more creative level design. if you're in 1997 and you're trying to decide if this game is right for you, this grab bag of a shareware episode should give you a good idea of what you're in for.

episode two: even death may die

while E1M1 is iconic, the entirety of episode 2 is equally so. set in the frigid north, with whole-level references to some of the most iconic horror tales ever written ("frankenstein," "the shining,") it's a departure from the first episode in that the theming is consistent throughout. even the haunted house level is surrounded by snow and cold. it also introduces several new enemies: the bloated zombie, the giant fish monsters, spiders, and most notably, the phantasm, a terrifying ghost that's only able to be hurt when it's about to attack you. the arsenal gets filled out a bit as well -- you now can use the special dynamite types as well as the ever-popular aerosol can flamethrower, plus the voodoo doll.

E2M1: shipwrecked (craig hubbard) the frozen north theme hits you like cold wind in the face, starting you out on a tiny boat heading towards a big wooden ship, locked in the ice (and named the HMS victor, in keeping with the obvious frankenstein ref.) while there's a few treats in the water, most of the level is spent exploring the relatively small ship, moving from fore to aft and back again as you collect keys and open up new rooms. your first encounter with gillbeasts will probably be in the small, flooded room at the fore, a nasty place to meet such a dangerous enemy. the finale is nonsensical, but kinda cool, and a quick swim later you're at the entrance to the next level.

E2M2: the lumber mill (craig hubbard) a quick little romp around a lumber mill, as the title suggests. mostly a small compound of small buildings, you'll be working your way around and through them, visiting each one in turn and clearing them out. first introduction of "bloated butchers" -- fat zombies with toxic puke and big cleavers that they throw at you. these guys can take a hell of a beating before going down. fun, short little level that exemplifies the exploratory focus a lot of these older FPS games had. good bit of humor to be had by the outhouses.

E2M3: rest for the wicked (kevin kilstrom and craig hubbard) it took me a long time to figure out what the hell this was supposed to be. essentially it's a prelude to the next level, a small hedge maze and resort complete with pool, hot tub, and the like -- all frozen over, of course. it's very restful with between 43 to 105 enemies running around. the hedge maze makes up most of the first part of the level, before switching over to the resort area, and then looping back around, finally sending you back to the start of the level, where you unlock a gate that leads to the exit. looming in the distance is a big old house, with one light on upstairs, and something in the window watching you...

E2M4: the overlooked hotel (kevin kilstrom with revisions by craig hubbard) zero points for guessing what this level is a reference to -- especially with that frozen guy in the hedge maze. the hedges aren't all that interesting otherwise, but once you get into the hotel proper the level really opens up, with an extremely non-linear layout for you to explore. not only that, but a series of very obvious secret passages basically connect the entire hotel, making it possible to duck in and out of rooms at will. this is also another example of the game making secret exits require a little bit of thought -- you need to find five tomes hidden around the hotel to unlock a portal. some good scares and creepy moments in this level, mostly based on "the shining," but my favorite is the library, the stacks illuminated by suspended lanterns, except for one in the far back, the chain swinging uselessly, with phantasms lurking in the shadow.

E2M9: thin ice (james wilson) if you liked the frozen sea from E2M1, you'll like this level, a big twisting network of caverns and cliffs overlooking a frozen lake. not much in the way of civilization here, but plenty of goons to shoot through. not a very visually interesting level, but it's fun to throw a dynamite plunger and watch chunks of ice break off and float to the other side of the lake. towards the end things get treacherous as you have to make some daring jumps from one jagged ice peak to the next.

E2M5: the haunting (james wilson and kevin kilstrom) while blood is primarily an action game, the developers did not at all forget that this is a loving pastiche of the horror genre, and as such have crafted one of the creepiest levels in the game, and my personal favorite of this episode. a sprawling old manor with a detached guest house, the enemy count is surprisingly low for the most part, allowing for a slow buildup of tension as you first work your way through a creepy hedgemaze, past the guest house (the same house you saw at the end of E2M3 in fact) and eventually into the mansion proper. it's all dark tunnels and cobwebs everywhere, most of the windows boarded up. phantasms lurk about upstairs, you can hear what sounds like hundreds of rats in the walls of the basement, and when you finally access that mysterious guest house...

if there's a level that most exemplifies what a creative mapper can do to scare people with the limited technology of the mid-90s, this is it.

E2M6: the cold rush (james wilson) after the open-ended nightmare that was E2M5, E2M6's little mining compound nestled in the cliffs is a refreshingly short little jaunt that's somewhat reminiscent of E2M9. at first the camp building (the sole structure) is inaccessible, requiring an extended detour of hopping from ledge to ledge around some perilously steep cliffs, eventually finding the key in a cave, which allows you to access the building proper. lots of gargoyles flying about to irritate you, along with the usual zombie/cultist trash. fun little surprise flamethrower trap when you go to look in a mirror, complete with crawling hands coming out of the walls to choke the life out of you. opening up the locked gate to the mine proper offers a real sense of forboding for such a simple effect -- but we're nearing the end, now.

E2M7: bowels of the earth (james wilson) the penultimate level of the episode is appropriately epic in scope: a long, mostly linear journey through a dark, seemingly abandoned mine that's already partially collapsed. while abandoned mining equipment has been left lying around here and there, for the most part this is a generally featureless series of tunnels and chambers, though towards the end it starts taking on a more concrete identity with a big underground waterfall as a major setpiece and some long-abandoned temple ruins. trash mobs are everywhere, including a great ambush early on where the tunnel collapses and zombies break out of the walls to surround you. at the end of your journey you're rewarded with what looks like a huge temple, with a swarm of spiders (and a stone gargoyle) crawling out of the darkened entryway. the lair of shial is near...

E2M8: the lair of shial (james wilson) like E1M7, the final level of the episode is just a small arena, though in this case it's a much more convoluted knot of twisting tunnels and chambers, with a huge spider nest in a small chamber that overlooks the bigger starting room. in that nest is shial, mother of spiders, and your boss for this episode. compared to cheogh she's much easier to deal with -- she moves slower and mostly sends swarms of spiders after you. and unlike cheogh, it's much easier to send her bouncing around with napalm launcher fire, thanks to her much smaller size. once she's been squashed, you're treated to another CGI cutscene, caleb cracking wise with an andrew dice clay reference of all things.

final thoughts: episode 2 is probably my favorite of the four original episodes. it's a gorgeously realized trek through varied settings that fit very well into the far north/winter theme. while craig and kevin's early levels are all great, it's james' later levels where the episode truly shines. hinting at the guest house of E2M5 as far back as E2M3 with two, if not three levels in between, was a great touch, and the way it teases you throughout E2M5 until you finally find the house key adds a little bit of power to a scene that otherwise might have been just another grisly moment in a game full of them.

episode 3: farewell to arms

episode 2 might have been cold and dark, but episode 3, in contrast, is positively explosive. this is probably where the game comes closest to its roots as a horror take on duke nukem 3D. set predominantly in a town somewhere in france, you'll spend a lot of time fighting in and around the streets, working your way through commercial businesses and other things you would expect to find in a small city. the cabal have come for war, and with them they've brought a dangerous new enemy: hellhounds, whose flaming breath can sap your health in seconds. fortunately, you also get to use the tesla cannon for the first time, and it puts them down right quick.

E3M1: ghost town (james wilson) right off the bat you know this isn't the typical blood level. you're dumped unceremoniously in a small section of the city, with a number of the shirtless innocents running away from you in the distance. tall buildings surround you, and the streets seem clear of cabal. this all changes once you start poking around in buildings, as cultists and zombies start coming out of the woodwork and stuff starts blowing up. in true duke3D style, after surviving a shootout in a small office room, you get to watch from the window as the building across the street is reduced to rubble in an impressive explosion. the biggest challenge, however, is clearing the hotel lobby, which is just lousy with armed cultists, who've put up couches as barricades. if you're savvy and quick, a reflecting shots powerup will make this encounter a breeze. some other neat moments are the elevator that collapses with a super secret at the top of the shaft if you can climb to it, and the secret room modeled after the sloth murder scene from the film se7en, complete with air fresheners.

E3M2: the seige (craig hubbard with additional work by terry hamel) craig hubbard has pulled out all the stops for what's one of the most creative and brilliant levels ever devised. judging by the development notes, craig really enjoyed himself with this level, and it shows. right off the bat you get to watch as literal actual airplanes bomb the streets below (using some cool design tricks to make it look good,) followed by room-to-room fighting, shooting your way through the city as air raid sirens scream non-stop and explosions and gunfire ring out in the distance. it's a brilliant piece of work, atmospheric as hell and fitting right in with blood's overall theme as caleb's all-out war on the cabal escalates into full-scale mayhem. probably my single favorite level in the whole game.

E3M3: raw sewage (james wilson) obligatory sewer level. seems like almost every early FPS game had to have one, going at least as far back as doom 2's second level in 1994. in any case, this is a fairly linear but twisting shootout through a rather modern sewer system. the usual trash mobs are here, including plenty of zombies, but little in the way of higher-level enemies save a few bloated butchers and a poorly placed mother spider. not a lot to really write home about, though some neat build engine tricks like opening the machine that protects the eye key provide some nice visuals to an otherwise non-descript series of tunnels.

E3M4: the sick ward (craig hubbard and james wilson) probably the very first use of a hospital in an FPS game (or second, if you count system shock's medical deck) and it continues with episode 3's rip-roaring urban warfare setting. it's a sprawling, thoroughly modern (and anachronistic) medical facility, filled with the usual goons and ghouls for you to gun down. most encounters aren't too tough, though a surprise pair of hellhounds can catch you off guard as you round a corner. some good laughs with the "assisted suicide ward" being a torture room and some good creepy moments with zombies rising from their beds to come after you, among others. eagle-eyed players (or just anyone who played duke nukem 3D) can spot the button in the chapel that opens up the secret exit. all in all, a solid, well-rounded level that offers a decent challenge and takes a setting that's already kind of creepy and ramps it up.

E3M8: catacombs (james wilson and craig hubbard) normally you would expect a secret level to have some kind of gimmick or whatever, but unfortunately E3M8 offers very little of interest save for a few cool encounters (mostly tons of zombies crowding some of the back corridors, and a prominently-placed guns akimbo powerup to mow them down with.) it doesn't even really look like much of a catacomb, just a series of poorly-lit, underground corridors filled with enemies to mow down. feeling more like a doom level, it's the kind of abstract nowhere that games like duke 3D were intended to move away from with their focus on realism. a fairly weak outing, all the more annoying that it's a secret level. the end has some neat rotating sector tricks to lead into the far more industrial E3M5.

E3M5: spare parts (james wilson and craig hubbard) and now for something completely different. wilson and hubbard have crafted a convincing industrial nightmare here, some sort of foundry perhaps -- it's hard to tell as it seems to be generally a series of big rooms full of molten material, and most of your time will be spent traversing the catwalks and side passages surrounding it. good use of textures enforces a consistent theme, and there's a subtle style to the architectural detailing that makes it more than just a series of boxes. some fun encounters here, especially the security scanner which detects you as an intruder and first sets flamethrowers on you, then some zombies.

E3M6: monster bait (james wilson and terry hamel) continuing in the industrial theme of E3M5 we have a sprawling dam complex reminiscent of duke 3D's water treatment plant level. it's a little anachronistic, but it works within the context of the episode. like E3M3 and E3M5 it's a mostly linear affair with you blasting your way through a horde of trash mobs (including a ton of cultists) and the occasional hellhound or butcher. the turbine room isn't the most intense encounter, but it's certainly the most visually arresting. though you do get a cool vista from the dam.

E3M7: the pit of cerberus (james wilson and craig hubbard) it's fitting that an episode so focused on fire and explosions should end in an underground temple crumbling under lava flows. it's a bit less interesting, design-wise, than shial's lair; first you have to find four switches to start the battle against cerberus, who announces his arrival with cool collapsing walls and explosions. cerby is dangerous when his AI works, spitting fireballs at you that do incredible damage (and set you on fire.) when he gets stuck on architecture is when he's most vulnerable. other than that, it's a pretty straightforward fight, especially since he's relatively slow, so it's easy to lure him down one of the side paths for a breather.

final thoughts: episode three is, if nothing else, a showcase for the build engine. all kinds of little tricks are at work here to give the episode its look and feel; take a look at how the airstrike in E3M2 works sometime. while it's a bit more varied in its theming -- moving from urban warfare to industrial carnage, with a decidedly out-of-place secret level -- it's still a generally coherent trip, moving away from the grotesqueries of the first episode and the frigid nightmares of the second towards a modernist city setting. with a little creativity one could run with this theme for some interesting horror-noir stuff, but the all-out action we get for this outing is perfectly fine too.

episode 4: dead reckoning

the final episode of the original retail version, "dead reckoning" is like episode 1 in that it's a bit of a grab bag of themes, feeling overall like where the leftover levels and dregs of the design team's ideas went. the first half is a weird mix of mad science and a few whole-level references to classic slasher flicks, only to switch to a hellish setting out of doom for the back half. the hellstaff makes its appearance at last in this episode, proving itself a devastating top-tier weapon.

E4M1: butchery loves company (james wilson) starting episode 4 off right with a classic frankenstein-style mad scientist's castle. based on development notes this was one of the very earliest maps to be created, and it shows, as it's very small and doesn't really come up to the standards of, say, E2M5. at best we can see a few sights like what might be frankenstein's main lab, brain storage (no zombies allowed), a ritual and/or book club meeting in the front hall, and a lot of timing-based secrets that reveal themselves without the player even trying. despite its short length, you'll have to manage your ammo carefully, as the level is a bit stingy with weaponry while throwing a few high-level enemies at you like hellhounds. eventually you find your way into a back room and the exit, all too soon.

E4M2: breeding grounds (james wilson, craig hubbard, terry hamel) but wait! there's more! apparently not satisfied with the tiny mad scientist level, wilson et al. went on to create a much larger level that, thanks to the level transition, is very clearly part of the castle proper, despite its much more modern look. oriented around a pair of huge flooded fish tanks full of angry gillbeasts and bone eels, the level is a mostly linear affair that loops in on itself, with locked gates and doors eventually being reached from the other side. it's a visually striking level at times, with scenes such as the curved observation hallway with a view into the big round tank, or the forboding gate to the spider habitat that you must clear. combat is a steady drip with occasional hellhound encounters as well as a mother spider and stone gargoyle to block your way.

E4M3: charnel house (craig hubbard and james wilson) of course, if you're running an evil mad scientist lab and you're going through a lot of bodies you're going to need a place to deal with the leftover cadavers, right? the actual corpse-disposal facility is but a small part of the overall level, and much of your time is spent blasting your way through the tunnels and corridors of an aqueduct system the charnel house sits atop. fairly low-key for the most part, save for a few intense moments where gillbeasts come after you when you're in the water, though there is a moment where part of the map is repopulated by a troop of zombies. a decent little maze but nothing to write home about.

E4M4: crystal lake (kevin kilstrom and james wilson) ki ki ki ma ma ma

i mean, what else do you want me to say about an obvious friday the 13th reference? you can even find jason's mask and knife in a barn. in any case, this is one of those build-cute type levels that's mostly a series of tunnels and corridors where all the walls are plastered with a forest texture to give the impression that you're in an actual forest, punctuated by a disjointed collection of buildings to give the impression of camp grounds. it's largely very linear, your path through the woods eventually terminating at an outhouse, beneath which is a flooded tunnel that leads to the exit as well as to the infamous crystal lake, which is home to a school of gillbeasts. the lake itself has very little to distinguish itself from any big water-filled hole, though there's a hellstaff on a raft if you need it. also, though the secret exits of the first two episodes required a little thinking to work out, in this case they don't even make you look for a button. you basically have to know exactly what wall to blow up, because the classic cracked-wall sprite that indicates a destructable wall is almost invisible against the cave texture it's on, and the chamber is dark anyway. it's worth it, though...

E4M9: mall of the dead (craig hubbard) craig's solo act returns for a level that's easily as memorable as E3M2, if only for that goofy-ass mall music. no prize for guessing what movie *this* is based on... though there's curiously not as many zombies as you'd expect. it's not super huge, but there's some good encounters (including a twofer stone gargoyle bout in the fountain room) and there's a few laughs with the store names. a sudden swarm of zombies as you turn a corner reminds you of this level's inspiration, and to escape the mall you climb up onto the roof. it's anachronistic, but who cares?

E4M5: fire and brimstone (james wilson) the back half of the episode begins in earnest with james wilson offering a taste of hell in this jarring thematic departure from the early levels. (there's a possibility the regular ending of E4M4 naturally leads to this level, but it's not the cleanest transition.) essentially a big volcanic pit honeycombed by cavern tunnels and ancient ruins, your path winds through the caves, hopping over lava flows, through the upper rooms of a central tower and finally on to an underground temple of sorts. pretty steady drip of combat, though lots of hellhounds and an inordinate amount of gargoyles to blow up. not a long level, nor particularly intense, but thematically stands out a bit from the other ancient ruins of evil this game features.

E4M6: the ganglion depths (james wilson and terry hamel) while it's not the penultimate level before the final boss, it very much feels like one, reminiscent of E1M6 with its mostly linear traversal, high-above-the-clouds setting and sinister ancient ruins set into steep cliffs. lots of tough encounters here, including several spider mommas (notably a twofer in a tomb) and a nasty fight right at the start with gargoyles (including a stone one) and some goons with only a bridge and some ledges to fight on. lots of generic evil chambers as sinister chanting fills the air, but some creative encounters and setpieces help salvage what's largely a lot of narrow corridors.

E4M7: in the flesh (craig hubbard and james wilson) the penultimate level is by far the weirdest one, thematically. no ancient temples, no crumbling cities. just a huge cavern of flesh, filled with the sound of slow breathing. a shockingly low enemy count for the final non-boss level, but devoid of the usual trash mobs, instead throwing gargoyles and gillbeasts and hellhounds at you. a few distinct areas evoke actual internal organs, such as the heart, lungs, and, amusingly enough, the stomach. combat is either trivial or a pain, the latter especially when dealing with the stone gargoyle in the stomach area.

E4M8: the hall of the epiphany (kevin kilstrom) the game's finale, and the place you've been trying to get back to since E1M1. after a brief cutscene, you're treated to a tiny map that opens up in sections as you first have to fight another stone gargoyle, another mother spider, and another cerberus, in order, before finally confronting tchernobog himself. the battle is not as straightforward as you'd expect; aside from a hitscan attack that sets you on fire, he also shoots out devastating fireballs akin to a cyberdemon rocket in doom. it's largely down to who kills who first, though utilizing the high-level weaponry such as the hellstaff will help. a bit of a disappointing fight altogether.

final thoughts: for what's essentially the finale of the game, episode four is dissapointingly the weakest part of the game. while the final few levels have a coherent theme and transition among them, the first half feels like the design team had too many ideas they really wanted to put into the game and had nowhere else to put them. it's not to say they're bad, but E4M1 especially feels like a wasted opportunity and probably deserved to have been cut, or at the very least merged with E4M2. the mall level is truly great, though. the final boss was also disappointing, with a poorly-designed arena making matters worse. as a whole it's simply not as memorable as the rest of the game.

h/t to the blood wiki for the screenscreamshots

[boneandfur]

A Wicked Wind [1/?]

Notes: this is an AU fic set several years before the events of VOS. It takes place in the Intimate universe, the same universe as Riley x Rashad. This is for the Choices September Challenge, Sept 21, Autumn (although it could also fit under "Magic"). @choices-september-challenge Thanks to @lizeboredom for being my sounding board! // Pairing: Flynn x MC(Maureen) (yes! Not a crack ship! 😱) // Rating: Mature, later chapters will be NSFW // Words:3213 // Summary: Is a chance meeting between these would-be lovers of another time fate, or does autumn blow in a wicked wind of grief and misfortune? Loosely inspired by a New England folktale. // Song: Something Just Like This, Chainsmokers + Coldplay // WARNING: This chapter is rated MATURE for mentions of rape.

"Look at that pretty little thing, Danny. Ain't she wicked hot?"

Flynn knows he should stay out of it. He should keep on walking, head down, straight to Rayvynne's apartment to wait for her to get back from her job throwing tarot cards near the Witch House. Yes, he should keep on walking, past this girl with dark red hair and whiskey eyes, the kind that remind him of the man he should have been, the man he'll never be.

Even from here he can tell that she's the kind of girl every good Irish Massachusetts boy has known at least once in his life, a Virgin Mary, a Mary Magdalene -- a good Irish Catholic girl, the kind he would have brought home to his mother -- his life hadn't been taken from him too young, if he hadn't spent the best years of his life in the joint, when he should have been out fighting every Yankees fan and fucking every pretty girl or boy who caught his eye. And he's young, still, but on nights like this he feels old, as though whatever spark, whatever ambition he once had, has already been burned up by his thirst for revenge on the man who wronged him. 

"Pretty stuck up, Mikey. She needs to be taught a lesson." 

If Flynn wasn't thirteen minutes late already to pick up Rayvynne, who smells of pomegranates and graveyard dust, who fucks him like a girl with daddy issues, who leaves smears of black lipstick all over the place where his heart used to be -- then he knows he'd stop walking now. If Flynn O'Malley was still a good man, if those years hadn't been stolen from him, then he'd stop in his tracks. He'd turn from his path, and he'd take that girl by the hand, the one who could have turned him from his fate if he'd met her seven years ago.

"Yup, I'm gonna fuck her bloody tonight." Danny is lean and wiry in that way of a man who's grown up fighting everyone who's crossed his path. Flynn recognizes a fighter, after all, he's one too, but he's not soft in the middle like Danny, he hasn't spent the last six years before this drinking cheap booze and eating greasy burgers, he's become a man inside the clink, he's learned how to break men down, like animals. 

But this girl -- even a hardened criminal like Flynn O'Malley can see how wrong this is -- this girl, even with a skirt that's too short and tight, isn't fooling anyone. There's something pristine about her still, something innocent. She sure as hell shouldn't be standing in the autumn rain, tears on her freckled cheeks, witch hat listing sadly to one side of her head. 

Not with those men looking at her the way they are, hunger and darkness seeping from them like the mist rising off Gallows Hill in the twilight. 

The girl looks up and sees him under the cemetery trees, Flynn is certain of it: he smells deep green lake water and wild roses, and for a moment, he's a boy again, searching for pirate gold and a beautiful witch with red shoes, down in the Devil's Pasture with his Donnelly cousins.

The leaves blow across Flynn O'Malley's boots, the tip of his cigarette glowing in the darkness. 

And Flynn knows he's left it too late -- it's too late to stop what's meant to happen, what always was meant to happen -- because he's turned his back on fate, leaving it behind him like seven years bad luck, like a curse. 

And then -- before he has time to think, before he can take the step that will separate him as a fox among wolves, the girl leaps over the headstones and begins to run. Danny and Mike let out wild howls that raise every hair on Flynn's arms, and give chase. 

•••

Ten years ago, when the world was young, two girls set out from one end of Greenwood to the other on Halloween night. Only one returned. And that girl, Maureen Ronan, is standing in the liminal space between life and the sweet hereafter, at a quarter to twilight, under the cemetery gates, waiting for the doors to open between the worlds. 

Behind her, she can hear men talking about her, and her spine grows stiff, it's nothing she hasn't heard before. And though she'd like to think she can handle herself when it comes down to it, she knows the truth -- she's more likely to cut and run. She was always the fastest girl on her block, for all she was the dreamiest, and after what happened to Ayla, she'll never trust anyone else to save her, not ever again. 

"I'm gonna fuck her bloody..." The words send a distinct chill down the back of Maureen's neck, but she's already left an offering for the guardian at the gate, and she's already come this far, and been through so much. Nothing is going to stop her now, not even...

"'Til she's raw, and then I'll let ya have a turn, Mikey..."

They could be talking about anyone else, she thinks, but there's something in their laughter, long and low, that makes every hair on the back of her neck rise, and she can hear Ayla's voice, down through the years: Don't worry about me, Molly. I'll be fine. 

Her instincts kick in, and Maureen cuts and runs -- she bolts down the center path of the cemetery, zig-zagging through the tombstones, heading for the back gates. She can hear the men behind her, calling for her to slow down. 

Pretty girl. We just wanna be friends. Get back here and let us fuck you! 

She's got a stitch in her side already, she can feel her lungs constrict. She's regretting running already, it's not like she knows Salem village like the back of her hand, not the way she knew the forests and creeks just outside Chicago, when she was still a girl, before the world fell apart, and every truth she'd ever known had turned out to be a lie. 

And then it happens -- she trips, and goes sprawling in the wet leaves, and she knows she'll never outrun these men, they are already nearly upon her, smelling of greed and lust, rank and coppery like the taste of rust where she bit her cheek to keep from screaming Ayla's name, sure she could see her friend beyond the basement window of the Coyne house, when all good girls were in bed in the suburbs, their knees locked tight. 

It's a liar you are, Maureen Ronan. That's what you get for reading too many books. Mr Coyne is a nice man. Ayla was out after curfew, and she ran away, that's all. Her mother was turning tricks again, so who'd blame the girl for running...

She's crying now, hot angry tears, like the night they found Ayla's scarf in the creek outside of town, before they moved away, to live with her grandmother and cousins in Canaryville, in the city. The police let Mr Coyne go, they said there was nothing to hold him, without a body there wasn't a crime, and if Ayla's disappearance made folks lock their children up at night, soon people forgot that girl, swept under the rug of memory like all missing children in an unkind city. 

Except for Maureen, the only one to light a candle for her friend's memory, the only one who vowed that one day she would find her friend's body, and make him pay. That's what journalists do. They find out the truth. They make men like Frankie Coyne pay. 

But it's been ten years, and Maureen Ronan has spent too long outrunning her own fate. It should have been her in Ayla's place that night, after all, Ayla was wearing Maureen's shamrock green hoodie and her red boots, pointy toed, like a witch. They'd planned to meet at the cemetery crossroads and light a vigil candle, for all the girls who'd disappeared in the neighborhood down through the years, but Ayla never showed up, and Maureen waited for hours before she'd remembered, too late, the greeting Mr Coyne had given her before she'd set off that night -- 

Where are you going, pretty girl? 

"This way." She hears him before she sees him, his voice is the stroke of midnight, it's the deep black water in the center of a salt marsh, the kind of voice a pirate has, a deep baritone that charms the tides. The kind of man you'll never know if you should trust until it's too late, a wild rover, a lover and a fighter. He smells of late season juniper berries and warm tobacco and spicy bay rum, like the cargo hold of a pirate sloop laden with silks and stolen ingots, sunk beneath the waves with her handsome captain and all hands on board. "Come on." 

•••

Up close, the girl is everything a man like Flynn should never want. She's the kind of girl a man like him should never touch nor taint, not a wicked man like him. There are smears of leaf mold on her knees, and she's crying, tendrils of mist swirling around her rust-colored curls as Flynn steps out of the trees and grabs her hand, stopping himself from pulling her too close. He's sure she'd smell of new beginnings, of all the things a man like him doesn't deserve. He's sure her lips would taste of pirate gold, and deep magic, the kind you can't find outside of old legends, or the fairytales he stopped believing in long ago. "This way." Flynn pulls her into the shadows of the crypt, the one place he's sure superstitious New Englanders would never think to look for them, not within the shadow of the church. "Come on." 

The crypt is primitive, just a dark mound in the earth, with two shelves cut out of the dirt, and stone walls. Leaves rustle across the floor, and he can hear the loud rattle of the girl's frightened breathing. Without thinking, Flynn pulls her close, marveling at just how well her head seems to fit under his chin, at how wrong he was about her, for she smells of the autumn wind and the full moon -- like home, even if he can't quite admit that to himself. 

"It's all right. I won't let them hurt you. I promise." Flynn raises a tentative hand and places it on her back, and she gives a tiny sigh and relaxes against him. He goes completely still, not wanting to ruin the moment, and closes his eyes. If only he were a better man. If only -- 

"Da name's Maureen." She has a distinct accent that marks her as not from around here, she's definitely not a Mass girl. He hopes like hell that wherever she is from isn't New York. 

"Hi, Maureen." He tastes her name softly, rolling it around in his mouth. He makes a circle on her back with his hand, tentatively at first, and then the shock of her cold fingertips brush the exposed skin near his waistband, and he bites back a groan -- this is going to kill him, he's certain of it. "I'm Flynn." 

Maureen licks her lips. Fuckkk. "Hi, Flynn." Her hair tickles his chin when she pulls her head back. His shirt is damp with her tears. "Thank you for helping me." 

He raises her hand and kisses it, as if they lived four hundred years ago, as if he were a pirate captain and she the most beautiful girl in the village, her flame red hair the beacon guiding him safe to shore. It's not gentlemanly feelings that are swirling inside of Flynn right at this moment. Maybe it's him she'll need protecting from. 

After all, if he hadn't stopped to help Maureen, he'd be banging Ravynne on her altar right now, goddess statues crashing to the floor as she rakes his back with those long black nails. 

No, he's a wicked man, is Flynn O'Malley. He's no good for this girl, and if she knew what was good for her, she would know enough to stay away from a man like him. "Just what were you doing there alone, anyway?" 

Maureen snuggles against him, as though his heart wasn't pounding like a drum. She inhales, and then takes a step back, putting a few blessed, torturous feet between them, leaving Flynn feeling strangely bereft. But when she reaches for his hand, he takes it almost unconsciously, running his thumb over her knuckles, the urge to feel her lips pressed against his making this strong man weak with longing. 

This is crazy. He shouldn't be feeling like this, not for someone he hardly knows, for someone he's just met. And yet, if he squints, beyond her eyes like firelight he can see a red haired girl standing on the dunes, waving to a man in an embroidered waistcoat and a tricorn hat, who sweeps her up into his arms and kisses her until neither of them can breathe. But that's just an old legend, a fairy story... isn't it? 

"Ah. I'm here to make magic." Maureen's voice is low and smoky, and the mist swirls around her little red boots, but Flynn doesn't notice, he's too hypnotized by the rise and fall of her chest, by those creamy breasts he's just realizing are accentuated by her laced black bodice. "Are you from Salem, Flynn?" 

"Nah." Flynn resists the urge to pull her right back in, to feel every soft, yielding curve pressed right up against every hard inch of him. "I'm from the Cape. Where are you from?" Not New York, not New York. 

"Canaryville." She gives a careless shrug. "Chicago. You know it?" 

"What's a nice little Midwest girl doing on the wild and windy coast?" Flynn winks. He's been told it's quite effective. He can't help but wonder where she learned to bat her lashes like that, and how long it takes a witch to fly from one city to the next. 

"I'm here to lay old bones to rest, and to turn a curse." Maureen stills at once at a loud crack outside, whiskey eyes wide with panic, and Flynn pulls her behind the door, covering her body with his, the instinct to protect her overriding every other thought in his head.

Pretty girl, where are you? The sing-song voice bounces against the trees, and the acorns make a crack-crack-crack noise as they fall, the sound echoing in the gathering dusk. 

There is a long beat as neither of them dares breathe. Then the voices are fading away, and yet they remain pressed up to one another, breathing one another's breath, so close he could claim those lips in his with a wicked kiss. 

With a groan, Flynn pulls away from her, running a hand through his hair and poking his head out of the crypt. "Looks like they're gone. You're free to go, Maureen." And he's free too, to go find Rayvynne, but he doesn't want to, there's some part of him that wants to see this through, to know why a little witch named Maureen makes Flynn O'Malley want to be a better man. 

•••

Maureen knows she should let Flynn go, let him walk out of her life. One look at him tells her he's a wild rover, a pirate, not to be trusted. He is entirely too handsome, and there's the matter of the tattoo on his wrist, and the watchful way his eyes scan every corner of the graveyard.

This is a man who is a fox, sly and cunning. And yet... and yet, another part of her wants to stay here, in this man's arms, where nothing bad could ever happen to her again, where she feels like ever since she started running, here is a place she might be able to stop, and find peace.

"Do you want to get a drink? You look like you could use one, I know  a wicked good place." Flynn grins and looks down at her, and his eyes are so blue that Maureen is struck dumb for a moment, staring up at him. This is the kind of man her mother always warned her about, the kind who could knock a girl up just by looking at her. Broad shoulders and dark hair with hints of copper, and the kind of beard a girl could tug on if she wanted a kiss.

Just one kiss. 

She can't help but wonder how his stubble would feel between her thighs, and feels her cheeks heat at such wicked thoughts.

"I'd love to." Can he feel the way her heart is nearly pounding out of her chest? He's smirking now, as though he could read every dirty thought inside her skull, as though he knows the kind of affect he's having on her, the way her stomach flips when she imagines the dark hair on his chest rubbing against her nipples, or what his tongue would taste like inside her mouth. "Do you know a good place for whiskey, then?" 

"I might." Flynn looks down at her arms around his waist in amusement. "You'd have to let me go first, though." 

She hopes Flynn can't tell how much she wishes he'd press her up against the dirt wall and commit sacrilege, let her run her hands all over his chest as he plunders her mouth with his tongue, as though unlocking a chest of secret treasures. "I'm hella shook." Maureen tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and vows to touch up her makeup. She's sure she looks like she's survived a ducking in the town pond, and feels her cheeks heat under his blue gaze, dropping her eyes. But she doesn't step away. 

A pause stretches out between them, with all the things unsaid, and then Flynn pulls off his leather jacket, settling it over her shoulders. He clears his throat, stepping back, and Maureen reaches out, stroking her finger down the intricate tattoo sleeve on Flynn's arm. He stills, like a Back Yards canary, or the magpie that used to bring her shiny pieces of river glass beside the creek, before she ever knew what it was to feel heartbreak. "Maureen." Flynn rests one hand on the wall above her head, and when she tilts her chin up to look at him, he brushes his thumb over her bottom lip, lingering for a moment, his eyes suddenly raw and vulnerable, as though she's someone he could trust. "Let's go get that drink." Flynn's lips graze against her earlobe, and she shivers with longing, feeling his gaze on her hips as they walk out of the crypt into the falling dusk. 

When she looks over her shoulder at him, he takes her hand, tucking her arm into his. She bites back a gasp, fire licking her veins, and when Flynn meets her gaze with one of equal heat, he takes her hand again, and leads her down the path.

--

Tag list: @darley1101 @writtenbycandy @indiacater @the-everlasting-dream @breaumonts @penguininapinktuxedo @christopher-powell @choicessa @drakewalkerwhipped @cocomaxley @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @sleepwalkingelite as always, let me know if you want to be taken off the tag list or put onto it. since i don’t have a permanent tag list i just go by comments.

[wincestmelange]

John teaches Dean how to drive the Impala in slow steps: first, he sits the boy on his lap and lets him steer around the parking lot; then, he steers while Dean shifts them cautiously between ‘drive’, ‘neutral’, and ‘reverse’; and, finally, once Dean’s tall enough to see over the dash, he lets him press his tiptoes down on the accelerator and trundle them slowly down a residential street. (Dean gets the hang of it on the first try, same as he did with aiming a gun. And it’s a good thing, since it’s only two weeks after that that a ghoul nearly takes John’s leg off at the hip, and John has to hold his leg together while Dean drives them in fits and starts back to the motel.)

He tries to teach Sammy the same way—Dean was four, when John put him on his lap, bounced his knee and let a giggling little boy wave at his mother and wrap chubby fingers around the steering wheel, and John winds up being grateful that Sammy was three weeks old at the time and too young to grab a fistful of Dean’s shirt and screech, “Me, too!” He tries to teach Sammy with the wheel first, and then the gearshift, and then the pedals, but Sammy is having none of it, climbs over Dean and nearly rips the gearshift out of the steering column when he’s barely three. Sammy’s favorite word is “Why?” and the word he never wants to hear is “No!” but “When you’re older” follows close behind.

(Dean yells at Sammy for ruining the lesson. John’s surprise lasts long enough for Sammy to start caterwauling—nothing shatters his youngest son’s composure faster than his big brother’s anger, not even the hated sight of broccoli on his dinner plate—but Dean’s normally a pretty even tempered kid. John would love to say he got that from his mother, or even from the Winchester side, but the truth is that Sammy’s explosive tantrums remind John of the pots Mary slammed onto the counter and occasionally hurled at his head. Dean’s calm isn’t something he picked up from his parents’ marriage, that’s for sure, though when Sammy digs his elbows in Dean can shout as loud as any Winchester or Campbell in a brawl.)

So Sammy learns in whatever order he chooses, latching onto whatever John is teaching Dean and asking a million questions about how the steering column works and why it’s a wheel and how come they don’t have to spin it to make the tires turn. Then two seconds later he’s bored and he wants to get out of the car and no he doesn’t want to climb underneath with Deano and see how it works. (Though John can’t really blame him for that one. The last time they’d been changing the oil, and Dean had loosened the screw and let the old oil drip all over Sammy’s head. It took three baths and an entire bottle of Joy soap to get Sam clean.) He learns about the gas and brake pedals before he learns to steer, because Dean convinces him to curl up in the footwell with one hand on each pedal and Dean’s dirty sneakers on his shoulders and push down with whichever arm Dean kicks.

(John never had any siblings, not counting the step-siblings living in their own world. Neither did Mary—they’d both agreed to have at least two kids, maybe three, and John isn’t sure exactly how it’s supposed to go, raising brothers, but he watches Dean get mud all over the back of Sammy’s shirt, hears Sammy’s outraged shriek followed by the giggle when Dean stops driving and leans over to tickle under Sammy’s ribs… John’s not sure how it’s supposed to go, but he thinks they did what they’d hoped to do, he and Mary, making sure their kids didn’t know how it felt to be alone.)

John lets Dean take the car out on his own once he turns sixteen—a reward for killing his first werewolf, John says, because he’s not above turning a necessary grocery run into a reward, and Sammy’s so desperate to do everything Dean does that he tags along and they both leave John to nap in peace. He makes sure to teach Dean about the blind spot, because the Impala’s a beautiful car but she’s definitely blinkered on the left side.

Dean doesn’t believe him. He doesn’t say so, of course, Dean’s kept his head on straight since those few months at the boys’ home, but he sits in the driver’s seat in the motel parking lot and makes Sammy walk from the trunk to the sideview mirror and back again over thirty times. (Sammy’s too skinny, Dean decides, doesn’t look anything like the rare car coming by to pass, and so he makes Sam grab some cardboard pallets from the dumpster at the diner next door and hold them out like wings and do it again. Sam balks; John could have told Dean that he would. Though he only balks after the third time, sweating from holding up the giant pieces of heavy cardboard and nose wrinkled from the stench.)

It’s Dean, of course, who finally teaches Sammy how to put all his out-of-order steps together and actually drive. Sam’s fifteen and finally growing, and John’s left them the car and left them in peace for the last month of Sammy’s freshman year and taken one of Bobby’s deathtraps out after reports of glowing eyes that might be just what he’s been hunting for. Neither boy ever tells John how it goes, but Sammy refuses to drive again for two damn years, only takes the wheel because his brother’s bleeding from the gut and Sam shoves John hard across the street, insists he can get them to the nearest hospital twice as fast.

(He does; mapped the whole city in his head, apparently, while he was researching the family’s crypt. John means to say “good job,” he does, but his oldest son’s in surgery and he has Dean’s blood soaking his cuffs and he needs a goddamned drink, and what he actually says is: “What the fuck were you thinking, Sammy, taking so long to fire a fucking gun?” And Dean’s not there between them—Dean’s unconscious in a goddamn OR, the baby he and Mary made cut open with his torn intestines on display—and so there’s no one to stop Sammy from spitting, “Fuck you!” in his father’s face, shaking hands clenched as though he’d like to do more than spit in John’s eye. “You knew there was a second spirit! You knew!” Sam gets his temper from his mother, from his father, and John needs a fucking drink.)

They never tell John that Sam’s a nervous driver—not that John would ever know, since the only times he sees Sam drive it’s because Dean can’t, and who has time to be nervous when they’re terrified, bone deep?—that, the first time Dean told him to pull out onto the state highway, Sam was so worried about edging over the double yellow line that he kept veering Baby to the right and nearly taking her off the road.

They don’t tell their father that nothing wears through Dean’s patience quicker than Sam, but twenty minutes of his ass vibrating as they ride the rumble strip also does the trick. Dean likes massage chairs and vibrators and magic fingers, he does, but he’s fucking sick of bumping over the right side of the road. So he leans across the seat and shoves the wheel to the left.

It’s just a nudge.

Only, Dean had expected Sammy to be white-knuckling the wheel. He’d expected that he’d need to throw the wheel hard to the left to make it move at all. Instead, he sends them weaving across the double yellow line Sam had worked so hard to avoid, and there’s a semi coming at them with lights all across its grill and Sam sees it barreling down, slams both feet too hard onto the brake and tries to steer right but the brakes lock and the Impala spins and shrieks and Dean’s hand is still on the wheel and it smells like burning rubber and the hot metal of the semi’s grill and the sound of car horns –

And then the road is gone and the tires are sliding over yellow, ripening grain, spinning into a wheat field and bumping to a stop.

Sammy heaves great hiccupping sobs that Dean remembers from Sammy’s childhood tantrums, when he’d scream until he couldn’t breathe and then panic because he’d used up all his air. (Dean had hoped that after Sammy turned five, he’d never hear his little brother gasp for air ever again.) He kicks at Dean when Dean stumbles around the car to drag Sam into the grass, trying to unfold Sam before his brother hyperventilates in the front seat. He catches Dean right in the chest, kicks hard enough to leave a shoe print over Dean’s ribs, and Dean takes it, bullies Sammy flat into the grass and revels in Sam’s teary, furious struggles because Sam’s alive. Sam’s alive.

(They never tell John; and so he doesn’t understand, years later, what it means for his youngest son to be sitting behind the wheel when the semi bears down on them at full speed, never knows what it takes out of Sam to hear the shriek of the crash, to open his eyes in a field, expecting his big brother and finding a demon instead. He never understands that Sam will kick Dean until Dean wakes up, if he has to, that he needs his big brother there to make him catch his breath.)

They never tell, and John isn’t there when Dean strips the wheel down to its metal two years later—two weeks after Sam leaves, takes half of the pile of shirts they’d shared and a handful of polaroids from the shoebox that he maybe thought Dean wouldn’t miss, the way Sam wouldn’t miss every damn thing he’d left behind. (Sam leaves and John goes through three bottles of cheap whiskey before calling Caleb and finding himself a hunt in Maine, sending Dean down to Georgia, as far away from each other and from California as they can get. Winchesters never lick their wounds, never break down sobbing into a flat motel pillow and a fifth of Jim Beam, not unless there’s no one else there to see.)

Dean takes the steering wheel down to the metal, careful to salt and burn the old leather saturated with years of Winchester and monster blood before he wraps and sews on the new. Below the leather—not that anyone knows, not that they ever will—there’s a shaky, blurry polaroid wrapped and taped, a picture of a lanky teenage boy with red eyes and tear tracks down his cheeks, mouth gaping as he pants for air, Baby’s sleek black metal filling the right corner of the shot. The boy is tan from the summer, surrounded by golden wheat, his fingers tangled in his big brother’s shirt and out of the frame; the picture is a reminder of all the reasons Dean has to drive safe. (John would call it sentimental, but he’d be wrong. Dean’s a hunter. Dean’s been a hunter for just as long as his dad, and he knows the power a talisman can have. The Impala’s cradled him and Sam, baptized them in oil and spun them out of harm’s way. Sam’s gone, maybe, but he’s there under Dean’s hands, safe between the leather and the metal and road.)