the empty town

who: caleb and mathias
where: somewhere middle america
when: around dawn

Caleb was sitting in the passenger's side of the vehicle, still working on the same thing he'd been working on for hours. He kept alternating back and forth between his drawing pad, a notebook with a lot of scribbled notes, and an old thin text that had seen better days. He only glanced up to grab his bottle of soda, which he found empty. Shifting, he felt his back protest. Fucking long car rides. And fucking Dorian, for having called but done nothing but make them more concerned than they had been before. He settled to shift to his drawing pad again. "Are we there yet?" he asked, deadpan.

Mathias glanced over, then back at the road. "Thought you didn't want to be treated like a kid," he said, easily. "Or did you want to stop for a Happy Meal?" He paused. "No, we're not there yet. We don't even know where 'there' is." Which Caleb knew, of course. Just like he knew they were following a line. Fucking long line at that. He didn't know what the line had cost him though.

"Food might be good." Caleb decided after a moment of thinking about it. "How long are we planning to drive before we rest? I can take over for a while." he added. He'd said before, and had taken a turn, but he was fine to do so again. He glanced around for the Polaroid that was supposedly showing them the way, and snagged it from the visor above the driver's seat. "We're theoretically closer." he observed. "But aren't in the red yet." He didn't know where Math had gotten that thing, or even if it worked. And, he wasn't asking questions on it right now either.

"I'm okay for a bit, but if you could take over in about a half hour or so, I could do with some sleep," Math admitted, thinking about that. "Though - we could just find somewhere to eat, stop, eat, then you can drive and I can lay out in the back for a few hours," he suggested as an alternative.

"Sounds fine." Caleb agreed. "I'm almost done with this shit anyways, so...yeah." he added, starting to put a few last touches on the symbol he was drawing. He glanced up to see what the next exit was, and if there was a sign that said there was food. "Next exit probably has something to eat, in theory." he said. That's what the sign declared, anyhow. It didn't have any specific logos for restaurants, so they would probably be finding a little rinkydink town diner, but whatever, so long as there was something edible involved.

Math glanced across in the dawn light. "What are you doing, anyhow?" he asked. He'd been aware of his brother drawing for a while, but hadn't been paying all that much attention to it.

"Writing a new spell or two." Caleb answered. "Not sure if they'll work, but then I never am til I test the theory. The hellhole you brought me to kind of got me thinking along different lines for the moment." he said, tracing his fingertips over the symbol, trying to memorize it down. The thing about the way he did his blood magic was all in the symbol, and if it was too complicated, he was fucked, so, he needed everything to be something he could remember, and do quickly.

"You just... write them like that?" he asked. "How do you know what'll do what?" he added. He was okay with the fact he knew fuck all about magic. Sure, it could be useful at times, but he'd also seen how fucked up his brother got with it, and he had no real wish to cover himself in scars. Didn't mean he wasn't highly curious though as he turned off the main highway and took them down into the town.

"Yeah, I just write them like that." Caleb said. "There's some spoken spell components, and the rest is in the symbolism which I've taken from..." he paused as he glanced up and saw...far more cars on the road ahead than there should be for a town that probably barely made it onto the map. "...what the..." he started. Sitting up, he frowned as he eyed the cars. They were sort of...all over. And just sitting there. Some seemed to be idling, others not, and he saw one car that the driver's side door was open, but...the fuck?

Math was already slowing down, Caleb's words echoing his own thoughts. "Yeah," he said, slowly, pulling over to one side of the road and then swinging the car round to pull up against the other side of the road, except now they were facing out of town. "Come on," Math said, turning the engine off, and opening the door, grabbing his bag from the back seat. "We're walking from here."

Caleb didn't have to be told twice, he was already shoving this books in his bag and getting out, shoving his hand in his pockets. Which was less to do with wanting it there and a lot more to do with the knife that was in it, that he was ready to draw at a moment's notice. He started to walk along with his brother, shrugging is own bag over his shoulder. "...okay I see absolutely no one." he remarked, eyes scanning all of the car windows, which were all empty. Every one as far as he could tell.

"No, no me neither," Mathias agreed, treading cautiously, every muscle primed to react. It was quiet enough that the idling of a car near by sounded loud in his ears and Mathias headed over, reaching in through the open door and turning the ignition off. "Where are we, anyhow?" he asked, realising that aside from the State they were in, he didn't know where they were, save for Random Town.

Caleb thought back to the sign they'd passed. "Big Cabin." he replied, with a clear tone in his voice that said he thought the town naming committee probably should have been shot at some point. "And yet I see no cabin, big or otherwise." He kept walking, stopping for a moment and just doing a full 360, looking in all directions. "I don't even see any signs of life period." he said. "And what the fuck, did everyone decide to leave, and just disappear? Clearly there was some attempt at a mass exodus, but...Math do you even see signs of damage?" he asked, turning to his brother again. This was...eerie as hell.

Mathias looed over and raised an eyebrow at the name, but said nothing. He walked from car to car, looking for signs of life - or, under the circumstances, signs of death. There were neither. Just... silence. "It's like the fucking Marie Celeste," Math swore, quietly, though his voice sounded loud to him in the quiet. He could hear the interstate in the background, though on this particular stretch, that wasn't saying much - just the odd trucker going past, it was hardly heavy traffic. And down here, not far from the main road, everything was just... "Where the hell did everyone go?"

"...that's unfortunately what I was thinking." Caleb commented to the Marie Celeste comparison. "I have no idea, but wherever they were going...not sure they got there." he said. He looked around, and saw an eerie mental image. He nodded towards it. The line of cars, the leader of the pack was stopped just in front of the sign that said You are now leaving Big Cabin, come again soon!. Like there was some line drawn across the road that no one got past.

"So - you wanna see if there's anything else in town?" Math asked his brother as he walked down the line of cars, checking each one with a glance, outwardly relaxing, but inwardly still very much on his guard.

"Might as well. We're here." Caleb said, walking along as well, doing much the same as Mathias. He tilted his head up as they started to come towards buildings. "No birds." he observed. He looked at what was probably the diner up ahead, and a few houses across the street. They looked fine too, though one house had the front door wide open. Other than that? Nothing. "Is it fucked up that I'd almost rather see signs of carnage?" he asked. Because that at least would explain things.

"Yeah - this is just weird," Mathias agreed, crossing the street and walking straight into the house with the open door. "Anyone home?" he called, looking into the living room, then jogging up the stairs to check the bedrooms. Nothing, no sign of life. One of the beds had obviously been slept in and someone hadn't got round to making it, but other than that, nothing. He walked back outside again. "Empty," he called to Caleb.

Caleb had walked up to the house next door, and peeked in the garage, where there was still a car, and had looked in the front window. "...doesn't look like anything here, either." he said. "...not seeing any pets. If there are houses just wide open and shit there should be cats or dogs or something. He walked back towards the sidewalk, and looked up and down the road. Nothing looked out of place save for the fact that there was no one around, period. "So yeah, my assessment is this is fucked."

"And never seen a town this quiet where there's not some bird pecking shit off the sidewalk. This is fucked - but doesn't seem like actively dangerous fucked-upness. Wanna check out the diner?" he asked, heading over that way already.

"...I'm still hungry." Caleb commented. "So...yeah. Let's. Then we can get the fuck out of here." Because being out of there was important. Just...not as important as getting fed so neither one of them started feeling light headed behind the wheel on the fucking freeway. He'd have to call Dean to tell him about this shit. It was far too weird not to.

That had been what was running through Math's head - this place was weird, but a guy had to eat. And there was nothing to suggest that the population had been poisoned by a run on diner food or anything, so why pass up the opportunity. So, they'd have to cook themselves - but at least they wouldn't have to pay, right?