[joanna beth harvelle]

All the customers had left, whether they were walking of their own will or were being helped out by friends, even if there was an hour or so left before official closing. The important part was that they were gone and that left Jo to clean up after them, not that it bothered her. All her life she had cleaned up at bar. The Roadhouse would get rather bad now and again, so there was nothing that could surprise her when it came to cleaning up a bar. Jo had seen it all. Even in the city of Seattle, which was by far a different atmosphere than the Harvelle girl was used to. Some nights she was just amazed at the people there, what they were thinking. It always bothered her how ignorant the civilian population was, how they just turned the other cheek or pretended that what they heard was just the wind blowing through the house. If they really knew, would they even be able to handle it? Jo seriously doubted it. Time out in the ‘world’ hadn’t changed that opinion.

Still, being around people her age, it just seemed to highlight how different she was; like back in college. Jo never fit in there, as much as she tried, and she had tried no matter what her mother said to her. But in the end, she was just the ‘freak with the knife collection’ that no one understood. They hadn’t understood when she spent late nights on her computer researching the suspicious accidents that happened nearby, or when she took those arcade shooting games too seriously. And got the top scores almost every time. Yeah, that earned a few sideways looks. Jo had no choice but to leave and do what she was born to do: hunt. And she was getting better, finding her own groove and her own feet when it came to jobs. Now and again something would get the higher ground and Jo would struggle to finish, but she was going to do it one way or another.

Jo took a towel and used it to clean up the tables and once she reached the jukebox in the corner, a high tech one that used computer screens and cd’s, she dug into her tips and found the money to put a little bit of music on while she cleaned up. REO came on, making her smile. Ah, the memories listening to REO at the Roadhouse. Which reminded her that she should probably get a postcard and send it off to her mother. She deserved that much for raising her, and if Jo had to admit grudgingly, raising her right. And she owed it to her father. He would tell her to do it and Jo was going to respect her father.

Behind her, she heard the door open and her hand instinctively slipped to her father’s knife in her pocket. The last time that had happened, Sam Winchester had knocked her against the bar, tied her up and granted, he was possessed, but Jo wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. “We’re about to close, but if you want something, I’ll get it for you.” She turned around, tossing the rag on the table.

[Rain Ocampo]

A new town, a new place, always moving. Rain pulled the jacket resting around her huddled shoulders, tighter. She cuddled in the warmth of her jacket as she continued to troop down the long streets of the night. It was one of those times when she just couldn't sleep, not a wink was coming to her and she didn't know why but at the same time, she really did. When every time you closed your eyes at night, you had vivid images of almost living zombies crawling forward to tear you to pieces, the blood easy to see as that and thicker things dripped from their gaping mouths, their distant eyes, looking blind. If you had seen that every night, would you be quick to fall asleep? Rain sure wasn't.

It hadn't been THAT long since she had been within 'The Hive', protecting herself and others from the disaster that had grown from the overzealous testing of the Umbrella corporation's stupid ass scientists. While the ones working, not within the actual process, thought they were doing a good deed, they were helping society, the rest within the process knew better than that. They had known the shit they were making and didn't see that they were already waist deep in it before the problems actually became an outbreak.

Rain was merely a soldier, a police officer, a citizen, but she had been given the knowledge of these things. Asked to join the team while she was still struggling to prove she could be on S.W.A.T, Rain had accepted with a triumphant smile. What she had not known was the real job she was recruited for. They were going to be left for dead either way, in trying to shut off that holographic little bitch, they were put into some major danger. As the visions passed, Rain shook them aside and continued on, deciding it was a good day to get something to drink.

The closest place to her seemed nice and she didn't pay attention to the closing hours posted as she opened the door. The hot air within the building rushed her and chased the icy coldness away, except for the parts within her that were just that way these days because of that one night in 'The Hive'. The doors closed behind her and the only person within sight was a young woman cleaning tables with her back to Rain. The stiffness that ran through her shoulders as the door closed showed her immediately that she was cautious and maybe paranoid. At least some people in this city weren't that stupid.

the woman called over her shoulder that she would get her something if she needed and instead of leaving and walking back into the starless night, she agreed on a drink. Walking towards the bar, she took a seat on a stool and laced her hands before her on the wasting wood.

"Yeah, I'll have a Corona if that's not too much to ask."