Dead on the Bayou Chapter 1
Title: Dead on the Bayou
Author: Disasteriffic Kaz
Info: Post 1x08 "Bugs" A stand-alone Hunt. The Winchester boys are on the trail of an elusive killer in Louisiana on a tip from Dad but all is not what it seems. The usual hurt/limp/awesome!Sam/Dean with a dash of angst for fun.
Author's note: I've had this idea floating around my head for a while. :P Just hadn't settled on what nasty I wanted to toss in to the mix. Finally made up my mind so hear you go! :D
And yes, I was totally listening to CCR and this song when I was trying to figure out where to locate this story. :D Eerily fitting.
Do please Review once you've read. :D Every comment and vote of support helps keep me writing. Not to mention if I've pooched anything, someone can always tell me. :P
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Now, when I was just a little boy,
Standin' to my Daddy's knee,
My poppa said, "Son, don't let the man get you
Do what he done to me."
'Cause he'll get you,
'Cause he'll get you now, now.
And I can remember the fourth of July,
Runnin' through the backwood, bare.
And I can still hear my old hound dog barkin',
Chasin' down a hoodoo there.
Chasin' down a hoodoo there.
Born On The Bayou
~Creedence Clearwater Revival
CHAPTER 1
The Impala growled along the interstate, carrying her boys away from Oklahoma and a hunt that still had their skin crawling.
"Dude, stop itching." Dean rolled his eyes at his little brother scratching his arm.
"It itches." Sam glared over at him and shifted on the seat to take the pressure of the right side of his butt. "You didn't get stung in the ass."
Dean snorted and swallowed the laughter, figuring he'd harassed Sam enough over the last two hours but… "Maybe we can get ya a cream for that."
"Bite me, Dean." Sam tossed back.
"Eww." Dean smirked and then looked over in surprise as his phone went off. Sam grabbed it and flipped it open. "Who is it?"
Sam sighed and passed it over. "More coordinates from Dad." He said and shook his head.
"We'll find him, Sammy." Dean told him. "In the meantime…" He handed the phone back. "Find out where we're going."
Sam was already digging the map out of the glove box. He spread it in his lap, tilting it toward the afternoon sun and checked the coordinates again. "Just wish he'd actually, you know, talk to us." He said softly.
Dean wisely said nothing, not wanting to start him off on Dad. He hoped Sam's more charitable mood would last and then he smirked. It would last until about five minutes after they found Dad.
"Well, we're going the right way." Sam folded the map. "The coordinates are for a place called Bayou Goula in Lousiana."
"Bayou huh?" Dean asked, raising his brows and Sam chuckled.
"Bayou Goula. Looks like it's part of White Castle Parish." He tucked the map back into the glove box.
"Dude. White Castle?" Dean looked over with a grin. "A burger town. I can handle that."
Sam rolled his eyes, envisioning every meal during the Hunt coming in little blue and white boxes. "Wonder what caught his attention?"
"How long's the drive?" Dean was hungry now, the thought of a burger heaven making his mouth water.
"About seven hours." Sam handed Dean's phone back to him and resettled himself in the seat, closing his eyes.
Dean watched him and smirked. If he had to suffer being hungry then Sam wasn't gonna have a nice nap. He reached over and flipped the radio on, cranking the volume as Creedence Clearwater Revival started playing. Sam groaned and thumped his head into the window, making Dean chuckle.
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Dean drove through White Castle, eyes riveted on the streets waiting for the parade of White Castle restaurants that was sure to appear but to his dismay, he didn't see a single one. Sam was smirking so loud in the passenger seat he could practically hear it and growled as he turned in to a Biggersons, its sign glowing happily in the warm evening air.
"Food, Sammy and you can geek your way through some research while we're at it." Dean smiled and pointed at the WiFi logo on the restaurant's window as they got out. Sam grabbed his laptop from the back seat and followed Dean inside.
"Bayou Goula's another half hour on you know." Sam told him as they went inside.
Dean patted his stomach. "Dude my stomach is eating through my back. Food first. Us humans need to eat."
Sam snorted a laugh. "Who says you're human?"
"Keep it up I'm gonna plant your gigantor ass in the salad bar." Dean snarled and slid in to the first empty booth at the window while Sam chuckled and sat across from him. He pulled out the laptop and fired it up.
A half hour later Sam dug his eyes off the screen when a French fry landed on his keyboard. "Dude, are you ten?"
Dean smirked. "Food, Sam. You're supposed to eat it." Dean pointed to Sam's untouched sandwich and then pushed the laptop closed, yanking it across the table while Sam sputtered. "You eat, you get the toy back."
Sam scowled at him but pulled his plate over and took a bite. "There, I ate. Gimme."
"Forget it." Dean pulled the computer off the table with a smirk. "Eat and talk. What do you got so far?"
"Such a jerk." Sam groaned but took another bite, glaring at Dean when he launched another fry at him. "First off, I can tell you that there are no White Castle's at all in White Castle." Sam delivered that news with a happy grin.
"Dude, so not cool." Dean rolled his eyes. "How can you name a whole town after 'em and not have any? What the hell?"
Sam shook his head with a smile. "Oh the humanity." He batted away the next fry aimed for his face with a laugh. "Okay so, we've got three missing persons and four bodies all from Bayou Goula. Different manner of death on the four bodies; two drownings, one guy was hanged and the woman was trampled."
"So why's Dad want us here?" Dean asked, finishing off his fries. "I mean ok people dead and missing I get but nothing's screaming supernatural to me."
"It's in the witness statement." Sam finished half his sandwich and pushed the plate away. "There's one witness who said her husband was complaining about a black horse in chains stalking him."
Dean looked up and raised a brow. "Ok, now I'm paying attention. That's kinda specific and weird."
"Yeah. The wife thought he was on something, seeing things or just making it up." Sam shrugged. "She wasn't home when he went missing but the daughter was."
"So, first stop tomorrow." Dean poked at Sam's plate with half the sandwich still on it and sighed. The kid wasn't sleeping and was barely eating except when Dean bullied him into it. He shoved the plate back over at Sam. "Eat the rest and we'll go find a motel."
"I'm good." Sam shook his head and pushed it back.
"Sammy." Dean said but his brother rolled his eyes.
"It's Sam." He reminded his big brother again and scooted out of the booth.
Dean sighed in irritation as Sam headed for the bathroom and sat back with a thump. Though he hated the whole sharing and caring and thing, when it came to Sam he made an exception. He wished his little brother would tell him what was really eating him up. Jess' loss of course was weighing on him. That much was obvious from the almost nightly nightmares he woke gasping from; sometimes screaming but there was something else. He could tell just by looking at him. He'd known Sam all his life and he knew when he was hiding something. He dropped a twenty on the table and grabbed the laptop, sliding it back into Sam's bag and stood. Sooner or later he'd get it out of him; Dean assured himself and headed out to start up the car.
Sam stared at himself in the bathroom mirror; at his pale face and darkened eyes and knew why Dean was mothering him. Part of him wanted to tell his brother what was killing him but another part couldn't stand to see Dean's face after he did; the look he was sure he would see there that would scream 'freak' at him…or worse. He was responsible for Jess' death. He knew that. He couldn't forgive himself so how would Dean ever be able to? He splashed water on his face and rubbed it off, trying not to look as dejected as he felt. He took a deep breath and went back out. He stopped at their table where the waitress was cleaning it and his brother was gone, no doubt to the car and already had the radio blasting.
He sighed and headed for the door. Sam stepped outside and then stood in shock when he saw the Impala's tail lights heading away down the road. "What the hell? Dean?" As he watched the Impala suddenly swerved and then screeched to a stop in the middle of the road. "Something's wrong." Sam broke into a run, sprinting down the parking lot and out into the road. There was a flash from inside the car and he heard the sound of a gunshot, spurring him on even faster.
"Dean!" Sam shouted and skidded to a stop into the back of the car, lurching around to the driver's side. "Dean?"
"I'm ok, Sammy." Dean's voice came out the shattered driver's side window.
Sam stepped in the glass and bent to look in. Dean was leaning over the wheel, panting and another man leaned against the passenger door; unconscious or dead, Sam couldn't tell. "Dean, what the hell happened? Are you ok?" Sam pulled the door open and shoved his brother back against the seat, checking him for a gunshot wound.
Dean batted his hands away. "I'm fine, dude." He looked over at the other man with a deadly glare. "Stupid idiot tried to carjack me."
"Are you hit? Did he shoot you?" Sam was beside himself and refused to believe Dean.
"Son of a bitch shot out my damn window, Sam. Get off!" Dean pushed his hands away and got out. "Didn't get me." He strode around to the other side of the Impala, opened the door and dragged the object of his rage out onto the pavement, letting his head thump into the ground. He'd hide it from Sam but it had been several of the most terrifying moments of his life when the asshole had climbed in the car, gun leading and Dean hadn't argued. He'd pulled away when told to as the only image in his mind was Sam coming out and trying to stop it; ending up dead in the parking lot because Dean was too slow to stop it. Once they'd gotten far enough away for Sam to be safe, he'd grabbed the gun, pulling the idiots arm across him and slammed his face into the steering wheel several times. He surveyed the blood streaming from the man's nose with satisfaction.
"What do you wanna do with him?" Sam asked, coming around to look for himself and resisted the urge to use his long legs and break a few of the guy's ribs for threatening his brother.
"Leave him. If he's lucky, he'll wake up before someone runs him over." Dean dropped a boot to his back with a muttered 'oops' on his way around to the drivers' side. "Let's go before someone calls the cops."
Sam stepped over the aborted carjacker and closed the door. He looked over at Dean and suppressed a shudder at how close he had come to losing him to something so normal.
"Stop starin' at me, Sammy." Dean tossed him a grin as he sped down the quiet street. "I'm fine."
Sam nodded and took a deep breath to settle himself. He rubbed a hand over his face and looked over again. "Next time wait for me, huh?"
Dean considered telling him he could handle himself, teasing him or maybe just calling him names but decided to say nothing. The remains of fear were still clear on Sam's face and he just couldn't poke at him for it. "I want a shower." Dean said instead and reached over, turning the radio on for something to listen to other than the sound of his own pounding heart.
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"Could be a Kelpie." Dean said as he emerged from the bathroom, toweling off his hair and sat on his bed. The Lone Star Motel wasn't much over a glorified roach motel and the fact that some enterprising genius had decided to paint a giant, puke yellow star on the ceiling of the room had made him groan. It was lopsided and he had a ridiculous urge to shoot holes in it. Sam sat at the table, absently picking at the black paint peeling from the top of it while staring at his laptop.
"I don't know. The chains don't fit for a Kelpie." Sam shut the laptop and leaned back. "Plus, Kelpie's always drown their victims and they weren't all drowned."
"Could be more than one creature." Dean tossed the towel in the bathroom's direction and lay back on the ugly yellow blanket that matched the star on the ceiling. "Wouldn't be the first time."
"Maybe." Sam stood and stretched. "Doesn't feel right though." He looked up as rain suddenly began to pelt the building and wind gusted against the cheap door, rattling it in its frame. He grabbed one of the chairs and took it over, wedging it under the doorknob and smiled when it stilled. "Next time I'm picking the motel." He said with a chuckle. Neither man saw the black cat peering in at them between the curtains of their room before it slinked away into the rain.
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Daisy Ruben walked her bike up the forest path; her head down against the rain and cursing her idiot boyfriend. He'd be lucky if she even spoke to him come Monday. She toyed with the idea of siccing her big brother on him but shook her head. Joe would kill him if he found out Greg tried to take her parking.
"Boys are idiots!" She shouted into the rain and huffed as she dragged the bike up the hill. She was graduating next year and no way was she going to risk her future just to bump in the backseat with Greg Jenner, no matter how hot he was. "Damn he is hot." She muttered and then shook her head at herself.
A soft mewling sound cut through the rain and Daisy peered up under her sodden bangs. A pitiful little black cat hunched on the side of the path beneath an overhanging leaf and mewed at her again. "Aww you poor little thing!" Daisy leaned her bike against a tree and bent to pick it up. It danced away from her hands a few feet up the path and cried at her again. "Come on, little guy. It's pouring!" She went after the poor thing, cooing soft words to it and followed its halting course further up and into the trees. Her voice soon silenced while the rain poured in the darkened forest and gave way to a piercing scream ringing through night.
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