ZEN i [JACK KLINE]

T H I R T Y

30| O L D F R I E N D

THE TRIO WALKED passed the large spikes in the ground, which looked a lot like gigantic angel blades. It has been hours since they left the building where Michael was. It probably took him minutes to figure out they had escaped and was probably looking for them at this very moment.

"How far till we're safe?", Jack asks Mary as they walked.

Mary looked around. "Out here? I'm not sure there's any such thing.", she answers.

"Wait! Shh!", Zenja says and points to a car in the distance with two men walking behind it.

She tugged on her mother's jacket and grabbed Jack' hand. " Come on."

They quickly run and hide behind a large tank and watch as the men slowly walk past them. Zenja peeks behind the tank to see if they were clear.

"I think they're gone.", she whispers just as a rifle c***s in front of them. She sighs when she sees a red laser appear on her chest. They then stand with their hands up in surrender.

"Are you angel, demon or human?", the man ask.

Zenja furrows her brows when she recognised the voice. " Bobby?"

"Human. We're human.", Mary answered at the same time.

Bobby recognised the two women and placed his gun down. " Zenja Winchester and Mary Campbell?"

Zenja breathes out in relief. " Oh thank Chuck...", she places her hands down.

Mary furrows her brows. "Bobby. My boys and Zen... they told me about you."

"Your boys?", Bobby asked in confusion.

" My brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester.", Zen answers.

" Wait...Mary's your mom? You look like her sister.", Bobby states.

Zenja chuckles. " It's a long story Bobby."

" Wait...", Mary spoke up. "You called me Mary Campbell. Do you know me?"

Bobby sighs. "Well, I knew you—the other you. She... well, hell, I thought you were a damn ghost. Turns out you're just from a whole other world, which is... weirder when you think about it."

He looks at Jack. "Who's the kid?"

"Um...", Mary looks between her daughter and Jack.

Jack raises his hand with a cute smile and waves. "I'm Jack."

Bobby still looks confused so Zen says, "Friend of the family."

Bobby nods. "Well, that's good enough for me. You better come with us."

Zen was in the middle of walking when suddenly Jack slips his hand into hers. She looks up at him with a small smile and he sends one back. She softly squeezed his hand and looked back at Bobby, who was currently leading the way.

Mary caught their small interaction and smirked. She was going to ask her about that later.

Bobby lead them through the forest and into a camp of war refugees. People were walking around on crutches, making fires and cooking food.

Bobby stops and faces them. "Well, welcome to home, sweet home."

Zen frowns when she sees the amount of injured people there were. "What happened to them?", she asks.

Bobby looked to where she was looking at and sighs. "Angels happened."

"Angels did this?", Jack asks with furrowed brows.

Bobby nods. "They've done worse. Two days ago, angels dive-bombed a colony in San Antonio. 400 people. Not a soul left alive. This ain't a war. This is an extermination."

Zen frowns and continue to look around in sadness. "Bobby... Michael, he'll be lookin' for us.", she says.

Bobby sends her a small smile. "Don't worry. We got protocols protecting us. Wardings, lookouts in the trees, few other tricks up our sleeves. Besides...", he looks at Mary. "Mary Campbell saved my ass more than a few times. It'd be rude not to return the favour."

He then walks further and the trio follows him. They reach some sort of kitchen and he hands each of them a mug.

" It's just water...food is hard to find with all these angels trying to kill us.", He states.

Zen sends him a small smile. " It's fine, Bobby. Thank you..."

She then placed the mug on her lips and sighed as the water slid down her throat. She finished it and handed it back to a woman, who smiled at her. She looked around once more and found a few children huddled in one place looking bored. She smirks to herself as an idea popped into her head.

>•<

LAUGHTER ECHOED AROUND the forest as Jack makes shadow puppets for the children in the camp. Zenja smiles softly at Jack as she watches him play around with the children. She feels a tug on her shirt, making her look down. She sees a little girl with blonde hair and a beanie.

She crouches down to her level and smiles softly. " Hi, sweetie. What's your name?"

The little girl smiles shyly. " Elizabeth...some people call me Lizzie.", she mutters.

" Well, Lizzie. Did you want to tell me something?", Zen asks softly.

The little girl rocks on the heel of her boots before muttering. " You're really pretty."

Zen's heart melts at her compliment. " Thankyou, darlin'. I think you're really pretty too.", she boops her nose and the little girl giggles. She looks back at Jack, who was still making shadow puppets for the children.

" Is he your boyfriend?", The little girl asks innocently.

Zen blushed before shaking her head. " No, sweetie. We're just...friends.", she answers.

Zenja furrows her brows when she thought about their relationship. With everything happening, having a relationship was at the bottom of her to-do-list.

" Why not?"

Zen snapped back to reality and looked at Lizzie. " Huh?"

" Why isn't he your boyfriend? The older kids tell me you'd look great together.", Lizzie says, c*****g her head to the side.

Zenja smiles and looks down on the ground. " It's complicated, Lizzie."

" Then don't make it crompi—complicated."

Zenja looks at her in shock. Never would she have thought of getting relationship advice from a child. She looks back at Jack thinks about it for a second. She felt tingles when she sees how gentle he was with the kids. She could feel the bond push her closer towards him. She wanted him...needed him, as much as she hated to admit it. When Zenja Winchester falls for someone, she falls hard and never looks back.

She sighs to herself. " Maybe you're right, Lizzie."