Jaws' Revenge (Pt. 2), GEN, AU, [PG-13]
Fic: Jaws’ Revenge
Author: sandymg
Beta: borgmama1of5
Summary: Sam’s accidental wish with a cursed Babylonian coin throws Sam and Dean into a familiar yet strange new world
Spoilers: Up to the end of Season 4. References Wendigo 1x02, Wishful Thinking 4x08 and Jump the Shark 4x19
Wordcount: 10,600 (5 parts COMPLETE)
Genre: Gen, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, AU
Characters/Pairings: Sam, Dean, Adam, Dean/Hailey (minor)
Rating/Warning: PG-13, mature themes
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters. They belong to the CW and Eric Kripke -- who'd best treat them well
[ prelude], [ part 1]
Part 2
The one person Dean wasn’t looking forward to meeting for the first time again was Hailey’s guide, Roy. Immediately the guy got on his nerves.
“You’re going hiking dressed like that?”
“I don’t do shorts Ranger Smith,” he snarked in his best Yogi Bear imitation. Wasn’t that good but apparently the guide got it.
“You think this is funny? It’s dangerous backcountry out there, her brother might be hurt.”
“Our Dad, too,” Adam snapped.
“Believe me, I know how dangerous this could get. We just wanna help Hailey find her brother, that’s all.”
“Our Dad, too,” Adam snapped. Instinctively, both Sam and Dean stepped in front of Adam, who huffed angrily.
The hike was long and mostly uneventful. Dean watched his step remembering Roy had stopped him from stepping in a bear trap. Dean pushed the puzzle of how all this could have already happened to the back of his mind. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by déjà vu until the Wendigo was flambéed.
“Roy, you said you did a little hunting,” Dean asked without interest. Dean was a hunter. What Roy did was slaughter innocent critters. Not that he was some sort of tree hugger. But he was a believer in picking on someone his own size. Or in this instance, about four feet bigger, but hey, it was all the same idea.
“Yeah, more than a little.”
“Uh-huh … What kind of furry critters do you hunt? “
“Mostly buck, sometimes bear.”
“Tell me … Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?”
Roy turned to give him a nasty look but was stopped short by Dean plucking the other man’s walking stick right out of his hand. “What the--?”
Dean snapped the trap with the stick. The noise reverberated causing everyone to stop and stare. “Bear trap,” Dean said, matter-of-fact. The other man’s face was a delightful blend of surprise, awe and disappointment. This having omniscience was a rather cool thing.
They trekked on. Roy took lead. Dean knew they were safe, for now, so he allowed it. Adam and Ben followed behind Roy, having started up some shy conversation. Turns out they’re the same age so talk of school quickly followed. Adam was talking about a road trip with his big brothers. The other boy seemed impressed. Sam followed them, his eyes alert and sharp, watchful. It felt good to have someone else on the lookout, alleviated the pressure of being responsible for everyone’s safety by himself.
Dean and Hailey brought up the rear. Mostly, she was silent, watching Ben. Dean felt her covertly studying him as well. “Okay,” she said suddenly as their eyes caught. “What gives? You’re hiking with a duffel bag. No provisions-“
“I got provisions,” he defended as he pulled out a huge bag of peanut M&Ms. That earned him a half smile.
“Is your father really hiking out here alone?”
He stopped to face her. “He might be here, we don’t know. These were the last coordinates he left us.”
The worry flooded her face. “Tommy’s never … I’ve never not known that he wasn’t okay. Not like this.”
“Hailey. Your brother will be fine. I’ll find him. I promise.”
“You sound so …”
“That’s ‘cause I am. Trust me.”
Roy called out suddenly, “This is it … Blackwater Ridge.”
Sam asked to see Roy’s GPS coordinates. They matched the one’s in Dad’s journal. Adam and Sam looked around almost as if they expected to see their dad appear from behind a tree. Dean knew better. In fact, he was remembering more and it was getting harder to hide the uneasiness any mention of Dad gave him.
Dean walked in the direction he knew Tommy’s campsite lay. Roy followed after him huffily. The scene looked exactly like he saw it in his mind. Tent torn to shreds by something monstrous. Blood streaks everywhere.
Hailey ran up with Ben behind her and stopped shocked. “Oh my god.”
“Looks like a grizzly,” Roy volunteered.
“This wasn’t no grizzly,” Dean said quietly. He approached Hailey. “Keep your voice low. All of you. It could still be around.”
“What?” Hailey asked. “The bear?” She bent down to pick up Tommy’s cell phone, battered and bloody, the back ripped off. Tears slid silently down her face.
Dean put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s alive.”
“How do you …?”
“I do.”
Just then voices called out from the forest. “Help! Help us!”
Roy started to run in that direction. Hailey glanced at Dean and also took off, Ben right behind her.
“No!” Dean shouted. “It’s not them. Don’t …” But it was too late because they’d run out of sight. Dammit. Sam and Adam looked at him. Dean clutched his duffel as the three of them set out after their charges. Roy, Hailey and Ben were milling around a clearing.
“It sounded like it came from here, didn’t it?” Hailey said, disappointed. Dean shook his head.
“Everybody back to camp,” Sam ordered.
Dean knew what they’d find. Maybe he should have tried to salvage that idiot Roy’s pack since it had the fancy gizmos - satellite phones and GPS equipment. But he’d been worried for Hailey and there hadn’t been time.
“Our stuff’s gone?” Roy was saying incredulously. “Some nut job is playing games with us.” He pulled out his pistol. “Well, I’ll show him games.”
Sam walked over and used his freakish height to settle Roy down. “Put that thing away.”
“Kid, don’t worry, whatever’s out there, I think I can handle it.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about. If you shoot this thing you’re just gonna make it mad. We have to settle in before it gets dark.”
“One, you’re talking nonsense, two you’re in no position to give anybody orders,” Roy snapped belligerently.
Dean walked over to defuse the situation. “Relax.”
Sam was pissed now. “We never should have let you come out here in the first place, alright? I’m trying to protect you.“
“You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight.”
Roy just waved a red flag in front of a bull. “Yeah? You don’t know jack shit about what this is. It’s a damn near perfect hunter. It’s smarter than you, and it’s gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we-“
“Sam. Enough. We need to keep these people safe.” Dean turned to his youngest brother. “Adam, you know what symbols to put on the ground?”
Adam nodded confidently. “I learned them last summer. When you and Sam and Dad were hunting the Wendigo back home. Don’t you remember?”
Hunting a Wendigo in Minnesota? Sure, he remembered that. This boy? Not so much. Dean shook the thought away.
“Roy, it’s going to be dark soon. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We’ll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to make a safe camp as fast as possible.”
“How?” Hailey asked, one arm wrapped protectively around her little brother.
Adam paused , looked up from inscribing lines around the wrecked campsite. “These are Anasazi symbols for protection. The Wendigo can’t cross over them.”
Roy laughed. “Right. The monster that eats people and moves faster than light.”
“Nobody said faster than light, asshole, nothing moves faster than light.” Adam retorted.
“Adam,” Sam warned. “Finish the symbols. I’ll get some on the trees. Ben, can you get a campfire going?”
Dean watched as Sam took charge and gave everyone a task. He knew that this wasn’t how it had gone down the first time. Then, his brother had bitched about hunting the Wendigo, had wanted to get everyone safe and abandon the hunt. This Sam reminded Dean … of himself.
He looked over the preparations but knew that they were well done. Both his brothers had been paying attention to Dad’s lessons.
“Nice work Adam,” he said. “Dad taught you well.”
Adam looked at him. “Dad didn’t teach me the symbols. You did.”
Dean saw the hurt flutter in the boy’s eyes just as Sam approached. “Of course I did,” he said quickly. “It’s just that Dad taught me, so in a way …”
The save was lame but seemed to work. Sam put his hand on Adam’s shoulder again. “Great job,” he said. The affection between them was like a live wire. And damn if Dean didn’t suddenly feel the urge to get into a group hug.
Before he started singing falsetto he walked away from them.
In the distance the Wendigo tried once more, “Help me! Please! Help!”
Immediately Dean turned to Roy on the far side of the fire. “Don’t listen. It’s a trick. Stay here. No matter what. Stay here.”
Without answering, Roy raised his pistol.
“No!” Dean shouted but it was too late as Roy fired.
“I hit it,” Roy shouted and started to run into the forest.
“Roy, no! Roy!” Dean shouted. Dammit it was all happening too fast. And Roy wasn’t listening and now he was going to …
He turned to Hailey, Ben and Adam. “Don’t move. Adam - take care of them. Keep them inside the protected area.” He hesitated leaving the kid alone. Saw Sam’s same hesitation before they both ran after Roy.
“This way,” he yelled to Sam. “Maybe, if we get there fast enough we can stop …”
Roy stood in front of a tree looking up. As they approached he said, “I think it’s up in this-“
Dean staggered back, pulling Sam with him. The creature moved so fast you couldn’t see it, but in an instant the devouring sound filled the formerly quiet space as Roy’s last screech faded away. Bits of him started dropping down like someone burst a kitchen garbage bag in the sky.
“Dean,” Sam warned. “We have to go. Now.”
Dean stood there aware of his brother’s panic, knowing he needed to get Sam to safety but unable to move. Even though he’d known exactly what was going to happen he hadn’t been able to save Roy. Regret washed over him like acid rain.
“Dean!” Sam shouted again, snapping him out of it.
They ran back to the campsite.
Hailey looked at him questioning. At his silent head shake she drew her brother closer to her and held him tight.
They were all scared. Rightfully so. Sam checked all of Adam’s symbols even though they were perfect. He drew a few more on some trees for good measure. Hailey tended to the campfire and they hunkered down for what was going to be a long night. The creature passed by a few times, faster than the wind, ice cold and calculating, looking for a chink, a gap, any weakness it could exploit.
Sam pulled Dean aside, watching Hailey and Ben and Adam speaking softly near the flames.
“Dad’s not here. I mean that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?”
Dean had known beyond a doubt that their father wasn’t going to be here. But he couldn’t tell Sam that.
“Yeah you’re probably right. To tell you the truth I don’t think Dad’s ever been to Lost Creek.”
Sam’s face scrunched in annoyance. “What’s he want us to do, Dean? Why the cryptic messages, the coordinates? Doesn’t he want us to find him?”
How to explain this when he barely understood their father’s intentions himself. “I think he wants us to continue where he left off, you know, saving people, hunting things. The family business. That’s why he left us this.” Dean held up their father’s journal. “This book. This is Dad’s single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he’s passed it on to us, Sam.”
“Are you saying he doesn’t want us hunting with him any longer?”
“No. That’s not … “
“Because I can’t just pretend he’s not missing, Dean … I have to find Dad. I have to know … “
“Sam, we’ll find him, I promise. Listen to me, you’ve gotta prepare yourself. I mean this search could take a while, you gotta have patience, man. And, truth is, I don’t know how long we can keep Adam with us.”
“I know. He’s missing school. It’s just … well, you were there, Dean, you know how he feels about this. He’s a Winchester, Dean.”
The truth of this struck Dean like a blow. And Winchesters don’t give up on each other. Ever.
As if sensing that he was the topic of conversation Adam walked over. “We … gonna be okay?”
Dean spoke quickly. “Yes. Absolutely. We’re safe for the night.”
Adam looked at both his brothers. “I’m scared,” he admitted. “How do you … you, Dad, Sam … you do this all the time. How do you do it? Keep it together? Not just run away and say the hell with it.”
Sam looked at Dean as if expecting him to explain.
“Well for one … them.” Dean looked over at Hailey and her younger brother. “We’re going to get their brother Tommy back. I won’t lie to you kid, it hasn’t been easy. I mean there are times I wish … But I figure our family’s already screwed to hell; maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little more bearable. I’ll tell you what else helps. Killing as many sons of bitches as I possibly can.”
This drew a smile from both his brothers. Adam was messing with something between his fingers.
“What’s that?” Dean asked.
Adam looked perplexed a second and then noticed his own actions. “Oh, this. Just that old lucky coin Sam gave me ages ago. I always fiddle with it when I’m …”
The Wendigo choose that moment to cry out again, trying to lure them out of their protective circle. This time he used Tommy’s voice causing Hailey and Ben to jump up.
Dean strode over to them. “No. It’s not Tommy. The Wendigo’s trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put. It’ll be alright.” He stared hard at Hailey. “I promise.”
The shouting continued for some time, each pain-filled yell in her brother’s voice causing Hailey to shut her eyes in pain. If that had been Sammy’s voice … Dean was a bit amazed at her strength.
Eventually the Wendigo got bored. The forest became silent, with only the occasional night critter skittering by. Dean and Sam had taken shifts. Dean had slept a little. Just like last night he remembered odd snippets of dreams all twisting together so wildly it was impossible to make out any pattern. The last fragment he remembered was running as something invisible chased him snarling. He woke up to see Sam looking down at him steadily.
“Been quiet. Okay if I stretch out a bit?”
He shook the disorientation fear out of his head and rose quickly. “Sure.” Adam and Ben were lying near each other. Hailey was on the other side of her brother. Seemed like they were all asleep. “Rest. I’ll take watch,” he told Sam.
Gathering some branches he stoked the campfire to keep them all warm and then took up a position with good visibility some feet away. Back to a big tree covered with protective symbols he scanned the dark woods carefully. Quiet, just as Sam had said.
A movement near the fire drew his attention. Hailey stretched and looked around quickly until she spotted him. She approached slowly but purposely.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked her.
She shook her head. He waited, sensing she had something to say. “Are you sure … about the Wendigo wanting to keep Tommy alive?”
Earlier he’d explained to both her and brother all they knew about Wendigos. How they were human at one point but fell to eating human flesh to survive. It changed them, altered them until they were consumed with hunger … with the need for more human meat. The consuming of humans stripped away their humanity until they became the creature that they were hunting now. He fought back the worry that it could be debated exactly who was hunting who.
“More than anything, a Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years, decades, at a time, but when it’s awake it keeps its victims alive. It stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. It’s keeping Tommy somewhere dark, hidden and safe. We’re gonna track it back there and get him out.”
“And only fire can kill it.”
“Yep. We’re gonna torch the sucker,” he said with extra cheer.
Hailey looked up at him, the need to believe etched in her face. “How do you know about this stuff?”
“Kind of runs in the family.“
“Your father, who is missing, he’s a hunter of these … things?”
“And other stuff.”
“And while he … you take care of Sam and Adam.”
“That’s my job.”
She nodded. It was her job to care for her brothers as well. It was why, even though he’d thought about it, he hadn’t tried anything with her … he saw her with a sad, grateful gaze as she walked away from him with her arms around her brothers.
A soft touch drew his attention back to the present. “Dean?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you look at me like you know me? I don’t mean in a cheesy pick up line sort of way … it’s like, to you, we met before.”
He joked, “Maybe we did, in a past life.”
“And what happened between us … in that past life?”
It sounded like a come on, but it wasn’t … because her eyes were asking this as seriously as one would ask about anything they accepted as god’s honest truth.
Unnerved he answered honestly, “Nothing.”
She nodded as if this made sense. As if she, too, had already lived this entire adventure and knew of only one possible ending.
And then her lips were on his and what was and what was supposed to be collided in a rush of fear and heat and need that burned so fast he thought it would slay the Wendigo on the spot. Despite his body reacting fully he knew it could never go past this kiss, not with their families asleep right there. But she was soft and real and oddly it felt like he hadn’t had this for years, decades, like touching and warmth were undeserved because he was dirty, soiled, ugly, broken. He broke the kiss and sank into her hair, letting the sweet smell of her shampoo fight away another noxious odor that seemed to be part of his fiber.
She touched his hair gently. “Dean? You okay?”
“I … yeah …” He breathed in more of her scent and the weirdness starting dissipating “Yeah,” he repeated before bringing his lips back to hers and taking more of her heat into his limbs. God, she tasted good, earthy like the forest. Her tongue playing with his kept it all at bay, the monsters and the fear and the need to always look out for Sammy and his dad, who was missing … but not … and the brother who wasn’t. Hunger raced through him as he pushed her against the tree, thrusting his groin against hers despite layers of clothes and a trio of nosy little brothers who could wake up any second and get the show of their freakin’ lives.
“We … can’t,” she gasped although she was doing nothing to stop it.
Lips still on hers he took a deep breath and pulled away from her, putting one hand on each side of her face, lowering his forehead till it rested against hers.
“Hailey,” he said in a whisper, lips brushing the bridge of her nose. It was all he had, all he could give. She leaned in slowly and kissed his lips gently in return. Her way of saying it was enough.
They sat together then, Dean’s back to the tree, Hailey leaning against his side. She fell back asleep and he stayed awake pondering why kissing her was new even though he’d done this all before. Their kiss should have been wistful and short and goodbye. Maybe later, he thought, later there would be that other kiss. Be grateful, he told himself, that he’d been given a few moments of something pure in his screwed up existence.
Go to Part 3
Author: sandymg
Beta: borgmama1of5
Summary: Sam’s accidental wish with a cursed Babylonian coin throws Sam and Dean into a familiar yet strange new world
Spoilers: Up to the end of Season 4. References Wendigo 1x02, Wishful Thinking 4x08 and Jump the Shark 4x19
Wordcount: 10,600 (5 parts COMPLETE)
Genre: Gen, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, AU
Characters/Pairings: Sam, Dean, Adam, Dean/Hailey (minor)
Rating/Warning: PG-13, mature themes
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters. They belong to the CW and Eric Kripke -- who'd best treat them well
[ prelude], [ part 1]
Part 2
The one person Dean wasn’t looking forward to meeting for the first time again was Hailey’s guide, Roy. Immediately the guy got on his nerves.
“You’re going hiking dressed like that?”
“I don’t do shorts Ranger Smith,” he snarked in his best Yogi Bear imitation. Wasn’t that good but apparently the guide got it.
“You think this is funny? It’s dangerous backcountry out there, her brother might be hurt.”
“Our Dad, too,” Adam snapped.
“Believe me, I know how dangerous this could get. We just wanna help Hailey find her brother, that’s all.”
“Our Dad, too,” Adam snapped. Instinctively, both Sam and Dean stepped in front of Adam, who huffed angrily.
The hike was long and mostly uneventful. Dean watched his step remembering Roy had stopped him from stepping in a bear trap. Dean pushed the puzzle of how all this could have already happened to the back of his mind. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by déjà vu until the Wendigo was flambéed.
“Roy, you said you did a little hunting,” Dean asked without interest. Dean was a hunter. What Roy did was slaughter innocent critters. Not that he was some sort of tree hugger. But he was a believer in picking on someone his own size. Or in this instance, about four feet bigger, but hey, it was all the same idea.
“Yeah, more than a little.”
“Uh-huh … What kind of furry critters do you hunt? “
“Mostly buck, sometimes bear.”
“Tell me … Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?”
Roy turned to give him a nasty look but was stopped short by Dean plucking the other man’s walking stick right out of his hand. “What the--?”
Dean snapped the trap with the stick. The noise reverberated causing everyone to stop and stare. “Bear trap,” Dean said, matter-of-fact. The other man’s face was a delightful blend of surprise, awe and disappointment. This having omniscience was a rather cool thing.
They trekked on. Roy took lead. Dean knew they were safe, for now, so he allowed it. Adam and Ben followed behind Roy, having started up some shy conversation. Turns out they’re the same age so talk of school quickly followed. Adam was talking about a road trip with his big brothers. The other boy seemed impressed. Sam followed them, his eyes alert and sharp, watchful. It felt good to have someone else on the lookout, alleviated the pressure of being responsible for everyone’s safety by himself.
Dean and Hailey brought up the rear. Mostly, she was silent, watching Ben. Dean felt her covertly studying him as well. “Okay,” she said suddenly as their eyes caught. “What gives? You’re hiking with a duffel bag. No provisions-“
“I got provisions,” he defended as he pulled out a huge bag of peanut M&Ms. That earned him a half smile.
“Is your father really hiking out here alone?”
He stopped to face her. “He might be here, we don’t know. These were the last coordinates he left us.”
The worry flooded her face. “Tommy’s never … I’ve never not known that he wasn’t okay. Not like this.”
“Hailey. Your brother will be fine. I’ll find him. I promise.”
“You sound so …”
“That’s ‘cause I am. Trust me.”
Roy called out suddenly, “This is it … Blackwater Ridge.”
Sam asked to see Roy’s GPS coordinates. They matched the one’s in Dad’s journal. Adam and Sam looked around almost as if they expected to see their dad appear from behind a tree. Dean knew better. In fact, he was remembering more and it was getting harder to hide the uneasiness any mention of Dad gave him.
Dean walked in the direction he knew Tommy’s campsite lay. Roy followed after him huffily. The scene looked exactly like he saw it in his mind. Tent torn to shreds by something monstrous. Blood streaks everywhere.
Hailey ran up with Ben behind her and stopped shocked. “Oh my god.”
“Looks like a grizzly,” Roy volunteered.
“This wasn’t no grizzly,” Dean said quietly. He approached Hailey. “Keep your voice low. All of you. It could still be around.”
“What?” Hailey asked. “The bear?” She bent down to pick up Tommy’s cell phone, battered and bloody, the back ripped off. Tears slid silently down her face.
Dean put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s alive.”
“How do you …?”
“I do.”
Just then voices called out from the forest. “Help! Help us!”
Roy started to run in that direction. Hailey glanced at Dean and also took off, Ben right behind her.
“No!” Dean shouted. “It’s not them. Don’t …” But it was too late because they’d run out of sight. Dammit. Sam and Adam looked at him. Dean clutched his duffel as the three of them set out after their charges. Roy, Hailey and Ben were milling around a clearing.
“It sounded like it came from here, didn’t it?” Hailey said, disappointed. Dean shook his head.
“Everybody back to camp,” Sam ordered.
Dean knew what they’d find. Maybe he should have tried to salvage that idiot Roy’s pack since it had the fancy gizmos - satellite phones and GPS equipment. But he’d been worried for Hailey and there hadn’t been time.
“Our stuff’s gone?” Roy was saying incredulously. “Some nut job is playing games with us.” He pulled out his pistol. “Well, I’ll show him games.”
Sam walked over and used his freakish height to settle Roy down. “Put that thing away.”
“Kid, don’t worry, whatever’s out there, I think I can handle it.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about. If you shoot this thing you’re just gonna make it mad. We have to settle in before it gets dark.”
“One, you’re talking nonsense, two you’re in no position to give anybody orders,” Roy snapped belligerently.
Dean walked over to defuse the situation. “Relax.”
Sam was pissed now. “We never should have let you come out here in the first place, alright? I’m trying to protect you.“
“You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight.”
Roy just waved a red flag in front of a bull. “Yeah? You don’t know jack shit about what this is. It’s a damn near perfect hunter. It’s smarter than you, and it’s gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we-“
“Sam. Enough. We need to keep these people safe.” Dean turned to his youngest brother. “Adam, you know what symbols to put on the ground?”
Adam nodded confidently. “I learned them last summer. When you and Sam and Dad were hunting the Wendigo back home. Don’t you remember?”
Hunting a Wendigo in Minnesota? Sure, he remembered that. This boy? Not so much. Dean shook the thought away.
“Roy, it’s going to be dark soon. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We’ll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to make a safe camp as fast as possible.”
“How?” Hailey asked, one arm wrapped protectively around her little brother.
Adam paused , looked up from inscribing lines around the wrecked campsite. “These are Anasazi symbols for protection. The Wendigo can’t cross over them.”
Roy laughed. “Right. The monster that eats people and moves faster than light.”
“Nobody said faster than light, asshole, nothing moves faster than light.” Adam retorted.
“Adam,” Sam warned. “Finish the symbols. I’ll get some on the trees. Ben, can you get a campfire going?”
Dean watched as Sam took charge and gave everyone a task. He knew that this wasn’t how it had gone down the first time. Then, his brother had bitched about hunting the Wendigo, had wanted to get everyone safe and abandon the hunt. This Sam reminded Dean … of himself.
He looked over the preparations but knew that they were well done. Both his brothers had been paying attention to Dad’s lessons.
“Nice work Adam,” he said. “Dad taught you well.”
Adam looked at him. “Dad didn’t teach me the symbols. You did.”
Dean saw the hurt flutter in the boy’s eyes just as Sam approached. “Of course I did,” he said quickly. “It’s just that Dad taught me, so in a way …”
The save was lame but seemed to work. Sam put his hand on Adam’s shoulder again. “Great job,” he said. The affection between them was like a live wire. And damn if Dean didn’t suddenly feel the urge to get into a group hug.
Before he started singing falsetto he walked away from them.
In the distance the Wendigo tried once more, “Help me! Please! Help!”
Immediately Dean turned to Roy on the far side of the fire. “Don’t listen. It’s a trick. Stay here. No matter what. Stay here.”
Without answering, Roy raised his pistol.
“No!” Dean shouted but it was too late as Roy fired.
“I hit it,” Roy shouted and started to run into the forest.
“Roy, no! Roy!” Dean shouted. Dammit it was all happening too fast. And Roy wasn’t listening and now he was going to …
He turned to Hailey, Ben and Adam. “Don’t move. Adam - take care of them. Keep them inside the protected area.” He hesitated leaving the kid alone. Saw Sam’s same hesitation before they both ran after Roy.
“This way,” he yelled to Sam. “Maybe, if we get there fast enough we can stop …”
Roy stood in front of a tree looking up. As they approached he said, “I think it’s up in this-“
Dean staggered back, pulling Sam with him. The creature moved so fast you couldn’t see it, but in an instant the devouring sound filled the formerly quiet space as Roy’s last screech faded away. Bits of him started dropping down like someone burst a kitchen garbage bag in the sky.
“Dean,” Sam warned. “We have to go. Now.”
Dean stood there aware of his brother’s panic, knowing he needed to get Sam to safety but unable to move. Even though he’d known exactly what was going to happen he hadn’t been able to save Roy. Regret washed over him like acid rain.
“Dean!” Sam shouted again, snapping him out of it.
They ran back to the campsite.
Hailey looked at him questioning. At his silent head shake she drew her brother closer to her and held him tight.
They were all scared. Rightfully so. Sam checked all of Adam’s symbols even though they were perfect. He drew a few more on some trees for good measure. Hailey tended to the campfire and they hunkered down for what was going to be a long night. The creature passed by a few times, faster than the wind, ice cold and calculating, looking for a chink, a gap, any weakness it could exploit.
Sam pulled Dean aside, watching Hailey and Ben and Adam speaking softly near the flames.
“Dad’s not here. I mean that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?”
Dean had known beyond a doubt that their father wasn’t going to be here. But he couldn’t tell Sam that.
“Yeah you’re probably right. To tell you the truth I don’t think Dad’s ever been to Lost Creek.”
Sam’s face scrunched in annoyance. “What’s he want us to do, Dean? Why the cryptic messages, the coordinates? Doesn’t he want us to find him?”
How to explain this when he barely understood their father’s intentions himself. “I think he wants us to continue where he left off, you know, saving people, hunting things. The family business. That’s why he left us this.” Dean held up their father’s journal. “This book. This is Dad’s single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he’s passed it on to us, Sam.”
“Are you saying he doesn’t want us hunting with him any longer?”
“No. That’s not … “
“Because I can’t just pretend he’s not missing, Dean … I have to find Dad. I have to know … “
“Sam, we’ll find him, I promise. Listen to me, you’ve gotta prepare yourself. I mean this search could take a while, you gotta have patience, man. And, truth is, I don’t know how long we can keep Adam with us.”
“I know. He’s missing school. It’s just … well, you were there, Dean, you know how he feels about this. He’s a Winchester, Dean.”
The truth of this struck Dean like a blow. And Winchesters don’t give up on each other. Ever.
As if sensing that he was the topic of conversation Adam walked over. “We … gonna be okay?”
Dean spoke quickly. “Yes. Absolutely. We’re safe for the night.”
Adam looked at both his brothers. “I’m scared,” he admitted. “How do you … you, Dad, Sam … you do this all the time. How do you do it? Keep it together? Not just run away and say the hell with it.”
Sam looked at Dean as if expecting him to explain.
“Well for one … them.” Dean looked over at Hailey and her younger brother. “We’re going to get their brother Tommy back. I won’t lie to you kid, it hasn’t been easy. I mean there are times I wish … But I figure our family’s already screwed to hell; maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little more bearable. I’ll tell you what else helps. Killing as many sons of bitches as I possibly can.”
This drew a smile from both his brothers. Adam was messing with something between his fingers.
“What’s that?” Dean asked.
Adam looked perplexed a second and then noticed his own actions. “Oh, this. Just that old lucky coin Sam gave me ages ago. I always fiddle with it when I’m …”
The Wendigo choose that moment to cry out again, trying to lure them out of their protective circle. This time he used Tommy’s voice causing Hailey and Ben to jump up.
Dean strode over to them. “No. It’s not Tommy. The Wendigo’s trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put. It’ll be alright.” He stared hard at Hailey. “I promise.”
The shouting continued for some time, each pain-filled yell in her brother’s voice causing Hailey to shut her eyes in pain. If that had been Sammy’s voice … Dean was a bit amazed at her strength.
Eventually the Wendigo got bored. The forest became silent, with only the occasional night critter skittering by. Dean and Sam had taken shifts. Dean had slept a little. Just like last night he remembered odd snippets of dreams all twisting together so wildly it was impossible to make out any pattern. The last fragment he remembered was running as something invisible chased him snarling. He woke up to see Sam looking down at him steadily.
“Been quiet. Okay if I stretch out a bit?”
He shook the disorientation fear out of his head and rose quickly. “Sure.” Adam and Ben were lying near each other. Hailey was on the other side of her brother. Seemed like they were all asleep. “Rest. I’ll take watch,” he told Sam.
Gathering some branches he stoked the campfire to keep them all warm and then took up a position with good visibility some feet away. Back to a big tree covered with protective symbols he scanned the dark woods carefully. Quiet, just as Sam had said.
A movement near the fire drew his attention. Hailey stretched and looked around quickly until she spotted him. She approached slowly but purposely.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked her.
She shook her head. He waited, sensing she had something to say. “Are you sure … about the Wendigo wanting to keep Tommy alive?”
Earlier he’d explained to both her and brother all they knew about Wendigos. How they were human at one point but fell to eating human flesh to survive. It changed them, altered them until they were consumed with hunger … with the need for more human meat. The consuming of humans stripped away their humanity until they became the creature that they were hunting now. He fought back the worry that it could be debated exactly who was hunting who.
“More than anything, a Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years, decades, at a time, but when it’s awake it keeps its victims alive. It stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. It’s keeping Tommy somewhere dark, hidden and safe. We’re gonna track it back there and get him out.”
“And only fire can kill it.”
“Yep. We’re gonna torch the sucker,” he said with extra cheer.
Hailey looked up at him, the need to believe etched in her face. “How do you know about this stuff?”
“Kind of runs in the family.“
“Your father, who is missing, he’s a hunter of these … things?”
“And other stuff.”
“And while he … you take care of Sam and Adam.”
“That’s my job.”
She nodded. It was her job to care for her brothers as well. It was why, even though he’d thought about it, he hadn’t tried anything with her … he saw her with a sad, grateful gaze as she walked away from him with her arms around her brothers.
A soft touch drew his attention back to the present. “Dean?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you look at me like you know me? I don’t mean in a cheesy pick up line sort of way … it’s like, to you, we met before.”
He joked, “Maybe we did, in a past life.”
“And what happened between us … in that past life?”
It sounded like a come on, but it wasn’t … because her eyes were asking this as seriously as one would ask about anything they accepted as god’s honest truth.
Unnerved he answered honestly, “Nothing.”
She nodded as if this made sense. As if she, too, had already lived this entire adventure and knew of only one possible ending.
And then her lips were on his and what was and what was supposed to be collided in a rush of fear and heat and need that burned so fast he thought it would slay the Wendigo on the spot. Despite his body reacting fully he knew it could never go past this kiss, not with their families asleep right there. But she was soft and real and oddly it felt like he hadn’t had this for years, decades, like touching and warmth were undeserved because he was dirty, soiled, ugly, broken. He broke the kiss and sank into her hair, letting the sweet smell of her shampoo fight away another noxious odor that seemed to be part of his fiber.
She touched his hair gently. “Dean? You okay?”
“I … yeah …” He breathed in more of her scent and the weirdness starting dissipating “Yeah,” he repeated before bringing his lips back to hers and taking more of her heat into his limbs. God, she tasted good, earthy like the forest. Her tongue playing with his kept it all at bay, the monsters and the fear and the need to always look out for Sammy and his dad, who was missing … but not … and the brother who wasn’t. Hunger raced through him as he pushed her against the tree, thrusting his groin against hers despite layers of clothes and a trio of nosy little brothers who could wake up any second and get the show of their freakin’ lives.
“We … can’t,” she gasped although she was doing nothing to stop it.
Lips still on hers he took a deep breath and pulled away from her, putting one hand on each side of her face, lowering his forehead till it rested against hers.
“Hailey,” he said in a whisper, lips brushing the bridge of her nose. It was all he had, all he could give. She leaned in slowly and kissed his lips gently in return. Her way of saying it was enough.
They sat together then, Dean’s back to the tree, Hailey leaning against his side. She fell back asleep and he stayed awake pondering why kissing her was new even though he’d done this all before. Their kiss should have been wistful and short and goodbye. Maybe later, he thought, later there would be that other kiss. Be grateful, he told himself, that he’d been given a few moments of something pure in his screwed up existence.
Go to Part 3