A Walk in the Woods
Title: A Walk in the Woods
Author: Disasteriffic Kaz
Info: A walk in the woods with Dad, an easy hunt gone wrong and yeah, some quality time with the TeenChesters. Sam 11, Dean 15
Author's note: This one was spur of the moment, written while my Mr. had the computer and I was going through withdrawal and had finished my last FanFic while waiting to get it back. :) Hopefully it's not a complete a train wreck.
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"Dean." Sam's weak, pained voice called Dean back from the tree he'd climbed to get a better look. He shimmied down the trunk and landed beside his little brother.
"Hey, Sammy. I'm right here." Dean swept dark hair out of glazed, hazel eyes.
"Hurts, Dean."
"I know, Sammy." Dean stared at the foot long piece of splintered wood protruding from Sam's abdomen and fought back the panic that gripped his heart with cold fingers.
"Take it out." Sam begged again, voice thin with pain and fear, tears sparkling on his pale face. He raised a hand to grab it and Dean took his hands in his own.
"No, Sammy don't." Dean eased Sam against his chest and wrapped his arms around his brothers shoulders. He held Sam's hands in one of his own and carded the fingers of his other hand through Sam's sweat damp hair to comfort him. "It'll be okay, Sammy. Dad will find us soon." Dean promised him. "Gotta leave it in." The wound had actually bled very little considering and Dean knew, from Dad's first aid lessons, that it meant the wood itself was plugging the damage internally. It was saving Sam's life.
"Just hang on, Sam." Dean rested his forehead on Sam's dark hair, feeling his brothers much smaller hands wrap around his own and prayed their Dad would find them in time.
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Several hours earlier…
"Dean." John Winchester's voice, firm and amused, stopped Dean cold where he was piled on top of his little brother giving him the mother of all noogies. "Play time's over. Get off your brother."
"Yes, Dad." Dean, fifteen years old, rebellious and yet wholly devoted to his father, gave his eleven year old brother one last noogie before rolling quickly off the bed as Sam squealed.
"Get your gear. Sam?" John pulled his youngest son up from the bed and smoothed the shaggy mop his hair was becoming back from his face. "You ready to go, Sammy?"
"Yeah." Sam grinned up at him. John wondered when Sam would get his first real growth spurt. He was still small for his age compared to his older and now almost six foot brother. He wondered again if he'd made the right decision to bring Sam along on this hunt. Sam was determined, shadowing Dean in whatever he did and John couldn't help but feel pride in them both.
"Alright boys. What are we hunting Sammy?" John asked as they picked up their bags and followed him outside and to the Impala, shining black in the early afternoon heat.
"A Bloody Bones." Sam said easily and climbed into the back seat. "Large carnivores of European origin. They live and hunt alone, prefer wounded prey, have preter…preternatural strength and can be killed with any weapon to the heart."
"God you're such a geek, Sammy." Dean said and laughed.
John chuckled, shaking his head. Even so young, Sam's insatiable curiosity was turning him into a researcher to rival his old man. "That's right, Sammy." John gave him a nod in the rear-view mirror. "Should be an easy hunt. Once we track him."
John revved the Impala's engine, smiling at the growl and roared down the lonely country roads to the deep forest and the hunt.
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John led his boys into the woods. Dean kept his little brother at his side where he could protect him, his eyes roaming watchfully through the trees. They had found the tracks of their prey easily enough. A Bloody Bones was big but not very smart and easy to track. John's instincts told him they were close.
"Alright, Dean." John stopped and put a hand on his eldest's shoulder. "I want you to take position here with Sam." John pointed to a hollowed out tree nearby. "I'm going to circle around and catch it between us." Dean nodded. "You watch out for Sam." John patted Sam's shoulder and then loped off into the forest, vanishing quickly.
"Come on, Sammy." Dean said softly and steered him to the hollow tree with a hand on his shoulder.
"Dad's gonna be ok by himself, right?" Sam asked, staring up at Dean with big, trusting eyes. "Wont he?"
"He'll be fine, little brother." Dean smiled, reassuring him. "Nothing gets Dad, Sammy. He's the best." Dean knew that wasn't exactly true. Sometimes Dad came home banged up and worse but for Sam's sake it had to be true.
A roar from deeper in the forest whipped Dean's head around and he raised his rifle. "Game on, Sammy." He whispered with a grin. This was his favorite part. He looked down at Sam and saw his face deadly serious with the .45 Dad had given him aimed steadily around the tree. Dean smiled, proud, even as he wished for the thousandth time Sam could have a normal childhood without guns and blood and monsters.
Another roar, much closer this time and suddenly the Bloody Bones burst into the clearing at a dead run. It was massive and pissed and heading straight for them.
"Dammit! Come on!" Dean spun Sam around. "Run!" They took off into the trees.
"But where's Dad?" Sam yelled and turned to look for him. There was a splintering sound as the hulk of the Bloody Bones crashed into their hollow tree. Splinters and spears of wood exploded into the air. Dean ducked behind the bole of a large tree and pulled Sam with him.
"Stay down." Dean peeked around the tree, raising his rifle as the creature was lumbering back to its feet. He pushed down the choking fear in his throat. Dad should have been there.
"Dean." Sam said his name softly as he waited for a shot at the things heart.
"Hang on. I've almost got it."
"Dean." Sam said again and Dean felt a wet hand on his wrist. He looked down and all the blood drained from his head, making him dizzy. Sam had been speared in the gut by a piece of the exploded tree, his hands covered in his own blood.
"Sammy." He breathed. "Oh god, Sammy." Dean looked back and the Bloody Bones was stumbling back the way it had come. Sam leaned against the tree and slowly slid to the ground. "Dad." Dean sobbed as he fell to his knees beside Sam. "Dad where the hell are you?"
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John Winchester shook the cobwebs out of his head and pushed painfully to his knees. His first shot had gone high into the Bloody Bones' chest as it chose just the wrong moment to bend down. He'd barely had time to jack another round into the chamber when the creature had picked up a six foot tree limb and hit him with it. John took the limb in the stomach, somersaulting backwards into the trees and lost his fight to stay conscious as he listened to the monster huff and roar and then recede.
He used a tree now to pull himself back to his feet and groaned, feeling along his chest. "That's broken." He gasped, finding at least one cracked rib. "Dammit." He picked his rifle up and cautiously followed the wide swath the Bloody Bones had left in the undergrowth. Worry edged its way into his thoughts as he realized it was heading for where he'd left his boys.
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Dean stood Sam up again, careful not to move the wood in his stomach. "Come on, Sammy." Dean was all but carrying the kid now. "We're almost back to the car. Dad'll find us there."
"Dad?" Sam moaned and lifted his head.
"He's coming, Sam. I promise." Dean felt tears on his face and couldn't help it. Sam was fading as he watched. Relief burst through him as the Impala came in sight. "There it is, Sammy. Home."
Sam didn't answer. "Sam?" Dean took his face in his free hand, tilting it up so he could see it. His eyes were closed, his skin grey and he was out cold. "No, no, no, no Sammy no." Dean pulled his brother toward the safety of the car, tears flowing freely now.
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John wanted to rest his aching ribs but wouldn't allow himself until he knew the boys were alright. He looked up, eyes going wide and froze. A few yards away sat the Bloody Bones. It was wholly distracted picking splinters of wood out of its hide. John pulled his rifle from his shoulder, raising it painfully as his ribs protested. He sighted along the barrel, the Bloody Bones raised its great, shaggy head, eyes narrowing and growled. John fired and this time his aim was true.
The creature roared and toppled backwards. John edged closer, wary, until he could see the dead eyes staring up at nothing and gave a relieved sigh. "Good riddance." He turned about to the direction he'd left his sons and frowned. The creatures path of destruction continued in that direction.
All John's instincts nagged at him again and he followed the path at a jog, his ribs forgotten. He knew exactly where he'd left them but when he reached the hollowed tree, he found a disaster zone. It was easy to see the Bloody Bones had crashed through it.
John searched the area desperately and finally found the tracks he wanted, two sets of bootprints, one large and one small. He followed them away from the destroyed tree, nodding as he realized they were heading back to the car. He rounded a tree and gasped, dropping to a knee. There, beside the base of the tree, was a pool of blood. "No." He breathed. He lurched to his feet, adrenaline hiding the pain from his ribs, he broke into a run.
The sun was just setting below the trees, dimming the world around John as the Impala came into view. He sprinted the last few yards and felt the heart drop out of him as he saw what waited him in the back seat.
Dean sat with his back to the far door, Sam in the circle of his arms with his chin on the smaller boys head. Dean's miserable eyes raised to meet his fathers and John forced himself to move and open the door. Sam looked…no, he would not use that word, not even in his head. A foot long length of wood stuck out of his stomach and Sam didn't even twitch as the door creaked open.
"Dad." Dean said softly, looking to his father with such hope and relief and misery. "Dad it's bad."
"It's ok, Dean." John reached over and placed a hand gently on his cheek for a moment. "I'm here." He checked Sam's wound then, grim-faced and looked back up, forcing a smile on his face. "You did good, Dean. It's gonna be ok. You just hold on to him now." Dean nodded firmly, the look on his face saying nothing would make him let go of Sam because he had to be ok.
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Hospitals never changed. In any city at any time they all gave Dean the same sense of hopelessness as he waited. His Dad had been man handled out of Sam's room to have his ribs seen too. Dean had tried to follow his brother into the operating room and a security guard had picked him up and turned him around when he refused to leave.
His Dad sat beside him now with his arm over his shoulders. Dean leaned into him in a rare display of neediness. John was trapped in his head in a cycle of guilt and fear. He would never forgive himself bringing Sam along on the hunt. He should have known that easy was never a word you used on a hunt. Bobby was going to kill him. They were due at his place tomorrow. He could hear the rough voice now, enumerating the ways he failed his boys as a father. He would get angry, like he always did, because he knew Bobby was right. Yet it didn't stop him. He couldn't let it because he needed to know his boys would be ready.
"Mr. Winchester?"
John whipped his head up to see Sam's doctor standing in the door even as Dean leaped to his feet.
"Is Sam ok?" Dean demanded. The Doctor looked at the teenager and then met John's eyes.
"Sam is going to be fine." He smiled. "He lost a lot of blood but the wood managed to miss every major organ." He looked at Dean then and put his hand on the boys shoulder. "You did exactly right leaving it in. He would have bled out in minutes had you removed it."
"Can we see him now?" John and Dean asked, almost in unison and the Doctor smiled.
"Yes, of course. He'll be a bit out of it for a while but he's awake. Just don't overtax him." The Doctor turned and led them down the hall.
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Sam opened his eyes, feeling the room spin and smiled when he saw Dad and Dean's faces peering down at him.
"Hey, Sammy." Dean put a hand out, feathering Sam's hair out of his eyes.
"Son." John bent and laid a gentle kiss on his forehead. Sam's eyes opened wide in surprise. His Dad wasn't big on public displays of affection. Sam sifted through his memories, trying to remember what had happened. It was hard though, whatever they'd given him was making his head float feet above the bed.
"Did we get the Bloody Bones?" Sam asked finally. Dean breathed a laugh and his Dad nodded slowly.
"Yeah, Sammy, we got him." Dean said. Sam reached his hands up, one to his fathers face, one to his brothers. "It'll be ok." Sam said smiling. His eyes were feeling heavy and he let them close so he didn't see the surprise on Dean's face or the tears in his fathers eyes.
"That's right, Sammy." John said softly. "No more hunting for you for a while yet." He looked over and saw the mute agreement on Dean's face. "Get some sleep, Sammy."
-The end.