The Dead Who Groan Within Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Dean grunted in surprise when Sam's hand on his back shoved him back into the open doorway. He turned to say something and stopped when Sam held his hand out before looking up.
"What the hell are you doing down there, son?" The voice came from above and Dean backed up further, out of sight.
"Officer, I was just having a look around." Sam smiled up and stepped further away. The cop had appeared at the top of the rise directly above the gate and Sam was thankful Dean was out of sight with the shotgun.
"What the hell are you? Some kind of creepy murder junkie?" The cop asked fiercely. "Get the hell out of here before I run you in. I know you saw the crime scene tape."
Sam nodded and started up the slope, flicking his eyes briefly to meet Dean's, silently telling him to stay put. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Sam strode quickly up the hill. The cop met him at the top and angrily yanked up the yellow police tape. He watched Sam duck under and head back toward the parking lot before turning away. Sam heaved a sigh of relief. He'd have been hard pressed to explain why he was alone but didn't have the keys. He snorted; he wasn't feeling brave enough to hotwire Dean's baby just for one cop.
Dean hung back in the mouth of the tunnel, listening to his brother's and the cops footsteps fade. "Great." He muttered and edged toward the door. The last thing they needed was to get busted at a crime scene with a loaded gun, even one loaded with rock salt. He smirked; and wouldn't they have had fun explaining that to a cop. A groan sounded low behind Dean and he whirled, gun raised and flipped on his flashlight.
He couldn't see anything but that didn't mean much. Dean weighed his options; stay in the dark tunnel with the grabby ghost he couldn't shoot without alerting the cop or run outside and hope the cop didn't bust him getting back to the car. "Ah screw it." Dean growled and ducked outside, tucking the shotgun under his jacket to hide it as best he could. Rather than go up the way they came in, he took the side path and decided to circle around. He passed another gated door and came to a set of crumble down buildings.
"This is getting to be a little too much like hiking." Dean groused and climbed over the first tumbled stone wall, looking for purchase to get up to the higher slope where he knew the Impala and his brother were. He tossed the shotgun up, hearing it land with a clatter on the stone above. Dean climbed slowly up the wall. Just as his left hand reached the lip of the wall, a slithering sound below drew his attention. Dean looked down and jerked in surprise, almost losing his grip. An elongated, dark shape slithered into the base of the building.
"Holy crap." Dean watched wide eyed as it circled the small space and gasped when it reared back to look up at him. "Time to go." Dean lurched back to the wall and threw his right hand up over the edge, trying to find the shotgun and pull himself up at the same time. He could hear the creature hissing beneath him and hooked his elbow up on the ledge with a grunt, pulling himself higher. He shouted in surprise when something twined around his ankle, yanking him back. Dean held on with the barest of grips and looked down at the twisted black face and furred body just beneath him. The serpent was balancing its length along the wall and reaching tentacle like whiskers up to hold on to him. Narrow red eyes gleamed up at Dean in the gloom.
Dean flung his face into the wall as a shot exploded just above his head. The creature hissed in rage, letting go its hold on Dean's leg and he reached for the top again. This time his seeking hand slapped into a familiar forearm and he looked up to find Sam's worried face peering down at him.
"Dean! Climb!" Sam shouted. He dropped the shotgun in the gravel next to him and wrapped both hands around his brother's arm, heaving up. Sam grunted when Dean was yanked in his grasp again.
"Gun, Sam!" Dean yelled but Sam only shook his head.
Sam knew if he let go the creature would have Dean. "Climb!" Sam told him again and lay flat so Dean could use him like a ladder.
Dean kicked viciously at the black, furred head that neared him. It hissed, rearing back and released him again. Dean wasted no time. He climbed up to the top using Sam's arms and the rock wall and rolled himself out of the building and onto his brother.
"Holy crap." Dean said again, gasping. He was reaching for the gun when he felt Sam pulled beneath him. Dean spun and saw one of the creatures' tentacles had reached the ledge and found Sam, wrapping around his neck. "Oh hell no!" Dean lunged for the shotgun as his brother choked; Sam fighting a tug of war with his hands braced on the lip of the wall while the creature pulled from below. He was losing.
Dean wrapped one hand in the back of Sam's jacket, pulling and leaned out over the edge with the other. He fired the remaining barrel of the shotgun into the creature's face and thought he saw one red eye dim as it screamed and let go of Sam. "Come on, Sam." Dean rolled him over but Sam was in no shape to get up. Dean groaned, hearing the creature still thrashing below. He took hold of Sam's legs and pulled him bodily away from the edge.
"Hey! What the hell's going on?" The cop that had walked Sam out came toward them at a run. "Drop the weapon!" He sprinted the last few yards to the brothers, his handgun pulled and circled them.
"Officer, you really wanna stay away from the edge." Dean warned him, slowly placing the shotgun beside Sam on the ground and kneeling beside him.
"Where the hell did you come from?" The cop shouted, backing nearer to the edge. "What were those shots for? You shoot him? Back away!"
Dean growled and stayed where he was, one hand on Sam's chest. "He's my brother. I aint walkin' away and if you don't get the hell away from the edge you're gonna find out what happened."
The cops eyes narrowed and he turned to look down into the abandoned building. "Holy shit!" He exclaimed and fell backwards in his haste to get away. "What the hell?"
"Wish I knew." Dean muttered. "Sam?" He took his brother's face in his hands, feeling his pulse beating steadily beneath his hands. Around Sam's neck was a band of bruising from the creature. "Come on, buddy. Wake up. We gotta get the hell out of Dodge."
Sam's eyes fluttered and he groaned before cracking them to peer up blearily at his brother. "Dean." Sam groaned again and raised a shaking hand to his throat.
"Yeah. Triage later. We gotta go." Dean pulled Sam up so he was sitting and slid his right arm over his shoulders. "Gun." Dean nodded to the ground beside him and Sam dutifully picked it up. "Officer!" Dean shouted, making the man jerk. "You wanna live or you wanna wait for cuddles there to come up after you? Get over here!" The cop shook himself once, hard and went over to them. He took Sam's other arm without being told. "Watch that arm." Dean warned him. The cop nodded shakily and got a grip under Sam's shoulder instead. The three of them moved quickly away from the edge and up the hill.
"What was that thing?" The officer asked, glancing over his shoulder nervously as the area had gone quiet.
"Don't know yet." Dean sighed in relief when the Impala came into sight. "If I were you I'd stay the hell out of those ruins."
"He…ne needs an ambulance." The officer said as they reached the car and Dean swung the passenger door open.
"I'll take care of him." Dean took Sam's weight from the cop and folded him into his seat, drawing the seatbelt across him. "Thanks."
"Deputy Dooey." The Deputy said and rubbed a hand through his short brown hair as Dean smirked.
"Uh…really?" Dean was hard pressed not to tease the guy but, he'd helped save Sam and that earned him a one-time reprieve even though he was desperate to burst out laughing. Dean coughed and ducked his head. "Thank you…Deputy Dooey." Dean pushed the door shut and turned to him with a serious face. "Look, Deputy. What are you gonna tell the rest of the precinct?"
The Deputy looked back toward the ruins and shook his head slowly. "I uh…I don't know. I'll think of something." He looked back to Dean. "You should go."
Dean nodded, understanding and rounded the car, getting in the driver's side as the Deputy walked in a daze back to his squad car, gun held absently at his side.
"Hey, Sam, you back with me yet?" Dean reached over and tilted Sam's head up so he could see his face.
Sam let his head drop back onto the seat and got a hand up to massage his throat. "That…sucked." He said; voice hoarse.
Dean chuckled. "Let's get back to the motel before F-troop changes his mind." He started the car and backed hastily away. "Then we're gonna find out what the hell that thing was."
Sam nodded absently and thought he'd have no trouble recognizing the creature once he found it. It would be a long time before he forgot the image of the serpent's head rising up toward him, jaws wide as the strangle hold took his breath from him.
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"Hey scratchy." Dean tossed a cold beer to his brother when he looked up and grinned when he frowned at him. "It's medicinal. Make your throat feel better."
Sam rolled his eyes but took a grateful gulp of the cold beer anyway. He set it aside and pulled the laptop closer.
"You find Nagini yet?" Dean asked and settled back to fill more rock salt rounds. They hadn't killed the creature but they had deterred it, at least long enough.
Sam shook his head. "I will." Sam growled, voice low and hoarse and he rubbed at it. "I'm close." Sam had narrowed his search to Celtic creatures. The furred body was particular and rare for serpents. He flipped through site after site and had already gone through at least fifty entries. He clicked on another possibility and his eyes widened in recognition. "Found it."
"Nice." Dean limped over to the bed and sat beside him to look at the screen. "Well that's definitely our boy." The artists' rendering was an almost perfect match; black furred body, red eyes, long prehensile whiskers. "Wait…is that a horn?"
Sam nodded. "Says here it will sometimes stab or eviscerate its prey with a retractable horn. That explains the condition of the girl's body and the cops' this morning."
"Meanwhile the other college kid gets ganked by a damn ghost." Dean shook his head. "Just freakin awesome. What's this thing called?"
"Dobhar-Chu." Sam told him.
"Gezundheit." Dean replied and grunted when Sam elbowed him.
"That's it's' name dumbass." Sam smirked. "It's traditionally of Irish origin, resides in lakes, hunts on land, has a taste for humans."
"We can attest to that." Dean said ruefully and reached down to massage his aching ankle. "How do we gank it?"
"An Irish Skain." Sam pulled up an image of a small dagger. "Made of Bronze and stabbed into the creature's heart which…it's a serpent. That's not gonna be easy to find."
"So we have to track down something sharp and brass to stab it with." Dean got up and hobbled back to the table and his beer. "How's it get all the way over here from Ireland?"
Sam shook his head. "I don't know. I'm more concerned with what stirred up the ghosts and how many we're dealing with. I don't like not knowing how active the place is now, not with the Dobhar-Chu hunting the same grounds. Don't say it." Sam held up a hand, Dean's mouth poised open to say gezundheit again. Dean settled for a laugh and propped his foot up on the chair across from him, dropping the bag of ice he'd knocked off back on top of it.
"I'll go hunt us up some Brass knives tomorrow while you ask around; see if you can get any intel from the locals on ghost sightings." Dean smirked when Sam groaned.
"Sure, give me the talking job." Sam said ruefully, hand on his throat.
"Hey, I never underestimate those puppy dog eyes of yours, princess." Dean chuckled and ducked the pillow Sam threw at him. "Now what are you gonna sleep on?"
Sam smirked, reached his long arm over and snagged a pillow from Dean's bed, tucking it behind him and closed the laptop. "Night Dean." Sam said, too sweetly and pushed down beneath the blankets. He studiously did not look up; the stuffed catfish over the beds gave him the creeps.
"Smart ass." Dean muttered and finished off his beer before throwing the pillow onto his bed and briefly considered having a 'Poltergeist' moment with the damn fish; putting it out on the balcony. He laughed at himself and hobbled into the bathroom instead.
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"I'm telling you man. That fish is watching us." Sam said the next morning, watching the fish's glassy eyes as he moved from the bathroom to the bed and, eerily, they seemed to follow.
Dean gave a soft laugh and a quick look to the ugly thing. "Normally, I'd just tease you and call you a girly name but I don't like the damn thing either." Dean grabbed his clean clothes. "If you used all the hot water again, I will kick your ass."
Sam laughed and shrugged. "It was still warm when I got out. I'm gonna walk into town. See if I can find a good place to find about spirits in the ruins."
Dean tossed him a wave over his shoulder. "Watch your back."
"Always." Sam replied. He gave a last, skittish look at the catfish; checked the salt lines were intact and then left. It was another cool day, bordering on cold as Sam jogged down the stairs. The Impala was still the only car on their side of the lot and he had to admit, she looked damn pretty gleaming in the morning sun all on her own; like she owned the place. He rolled his eyes at his own whimsy and headed out to the street.
He decided his first stop would be his tried and true; the Library and crossed the busy street. The library was only two blocks over. The wind picked up, blowing in off the lake and cooling the temperature even more as he walked, passing few people out to brave a walk in the early fall. The town library was a small affair but Sam found his attention pulled to the building on the side of it. The front windows were covered in a mish mash of ancient symbols from at least seven religions he could name right off and some symbols that were nonsense. The sign proclaimed it to be "Occult Protections" and Sam smiled. Odds are it was run by an idiot cashing in on people's paranoia but it could also be a goldmine for information on ghosts in the ruins. He passed the library and went to the Occult store, pulling open the door. Bells tinkled above his head as he closed it and a man's voice boredly called out.
"Welcome to Occult Protections where we keep the forces of evil at bay. How can I help you?"
Sam stepped around a ridiculous display of dream catchers to find a twenty-something young man behind a tall counter with a green Mohawk and clove cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Uh, hi. I had some questions about the Bluff Point Ruins?"
The kid perked up, looking up at Sam in surprise from the Batman comic book laid out in front of him. "Dude. You a ghost hunter?" He asked with a smile. "Cause I am, I mean, on the weekends you know. Huntin' the ghosties. I'm Ross by the way. So, you want something in particular? Maybe a charm? My little sister, she makes loads of them." He chuckled. "Triss is kinda crazy about them."
Sam waved his hands in the air to cut off the verbal diarrhea and laughed. "Just some questions. I need to know how many ghosts are active in the ruins, if you know."
"Totally, man." Ross stepped out from behind the counter, straightening his rather goofy t-shirt with Galileo's face made out of Lego blocks. "Come on back." Sam looked toward the street and Ross laughed. "Oh don't worry. Pretty much no one comes in here but tourists and it's still kinda early in the season for them. Come on. I got all sorts of info on those ruins. Man that place is whacked!" Ross kept up his external monologue as he led Sam into the back, making him chuckle in appreciation of how long the guy could go without taking a breath. Dean would have decked him by now.
"Ross." Sam broke in with a laugh. "Breathe."
Ross grinned and blushed lightly, brushing a hand over his Mohawk. "Sorry. Triss says I talk too much. Of course, she's my little sister so she's biased. Obviously." He rolled his eyes and went to the back wall of the little store room. He pulled a box down from the top shelf and set it on the little table. "This is like everything I've collected on ghosts in the ruins. I figure I've documented at least eight."
"You've seen them?" Sam asked, surprised but Ross blushed and ducked his head.
"Well, not seen, no. I've been looking man but they're like nervous or something." Ross popped the lid off the box. "But I keep track of articles and stuff tourists say when they come in here, you know. Cut it out, write it down and put it in the box." He showed Sam the contents proudly. "One of these days I'm gonna see one."
Sam shook his head in admiration of the amount of material Ross had collected and hooked a stool from the corner with his foot, sitting down. "This is good, Ross. Really good." Sam looked up at him earnestly. "You know, you shouldn't go out looking for ghosts. It's not safe."
Ross cocked a pierced eyebrow at him. "Not safe like you could trip in the dark? Or not safe like The Shining?"
Sam laughed loud, raising a hand to rub his bruised throat. "You know, I can't decide if my brother would love you or hate you." Sam shook his head. "Not safe like the Shining, Ross. Ghosts can be damn dangerous." Sam pointed to his neck and watched Ross' eyes widen in shock. "Shit like this can happen."
"Whoa." Ross stared at the ring of bruising around Sam's throat. Contrary to Sam's intention, he saw a light of excitement in the kids' eyes and sighed. Some people just wouldn't accept the danger until it bit them. He hoped Ross lived to regret it later. "How about you walk me through all this?" Sam pulled the first stack of papers out of the box and Ross immediately went back to his talkative self.
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Dean stepped out of the shower, dressed and ready to go and thankful his ankle had stopped aching so badly. He pulled on his jacket and gave the mounted Catfish a dirty look as he walked out the door and thumped into the chest of a large police officer.
"Uh…morning?" Dean said, giving a lopsided grin that had no effect on the dour face peering down at him.
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