Clearwater National Forest, Idaho, America 2009.
The sweltering heat radiates down into the darkened forest. The sound of bird calls fill the air as the sun slowly sinks behind the tall trees. Up above the picturesque scene a shooting star flies past in a curving arc. The dark sky glitters with a thousand tiny lights, each trying to outshine the other. It is only when the sound of running can be heard that the peaceful nature of the scene is lost. The birds all stop singing in unison and an eerie silence falls.
"Son of a bitch..." A voice shouts out, cracking the silence. It belongs to a man in his late twenties as he rounds a corner. He is heavily out of breath and can barely stand, but he runs as fast as he can, desperate to catch up with whatever is in front of him. Further behind him is another man who looks a little younger but is slightly taller. "Sam, why didn't you tell me it was fast?" The first calls out his voice brimming with annoyance.
"I didn't realise Dean," Sam replies as he catches up to his brother. Sam's hair flows slightly in the breeze as he speeds up. "But maybe if you drank a few less beers then you wouldn't be struggling…" He jokes, earning an eye roll from Dean who has heard the same remark many times before. "Anyway, do you have the bullet?" He questions, looking back at Dean who has begun to fall behind.
"Of course!" Dean replies, reaching into his coat pocket. "Of course I have the bullet," He continues, checking his other pocket. "How could I forget the bullet?" He continues, adamant that he had placed the bullet in one of his coats pockets. "Only an idiot would lose the bullet." He states as Sam speeds ahead. Dean checks his jean pocket before stopping dead in his tracks. "Sam!" He shouts, grabbing his brothers attention.
"What?" Sam snaps back, not wanting to waste time with formalities or politeness. They had been tracking this thing for too long to lose it now.
"I've lost the bullet." Dean replies, looking to the floor. "It must have been when that thing jumped me!" He stated, trying to dig himself out of the rather large hole he made himself. Sam's face starts to turn red with anger and he waves his hands randomly in the air.
"What do you mean?" He questions, trying to comprehend why this has happened. He storms towards Dean. "When did you last see it?" He interrogates, trying to get a sense of when the bullet may have been lost.
"Umm…" Dean thinks for a little while before answering his brother. "When we parked the Impala." He answers, quickly making sure that this is in fact true. "Yeah, because you asked me to check." Dean continues, looking over at Sam.
"Jesus." Sam exclaims, running his hand stressfully through his hair as he tries to think of a way around their problem. "Well as long as the Minotaur doesn't realise that I am sure we will be fine." He states, sighing slightly. Deep down he knows that this wouldn't make a difference, but he needs to calm down a little.
"I thought the Minotaur was slain by that Roman guy anyway," Dean replies, earning a groan from his brother.
"It was, by a Greek." Sam replies, having told Dean this many times before leaving the motel. "But apparently Theseus didn't do a good enough job." He finishes as he starts to head back towards Dean. Twigs snap under his feet, causing him to wince a little. If the creature hears him then it will all be over. The duo lose every ounce of confidence, knowing that they cannot face the creature without the appropriate weapons. Dean's head snaps up like a Meerkat and he stares into the distance. Sam remains still, trying to calm himself down. After two minutes of silence Sam relaxes and starts to move forward again, with the twigs snapping underfoot, but Dean's hand flies up and stops him from proceeding. The cracking sound continues, getting closer and closer to the duo before stopping again.
"I think it may have realised." Dean whispers loudly to Sam. The brothers both look into the bush behind Sam, tensely waiting for some sort of movement. Dean reaches into his coat and pulls out a large knife which is deadly sharp, he raises into a defensive position in front of his face, ready for anything. Sam reaches into his pocket and pulls out his black Beretta 92, his finger hovering over the trigger, waiting for the creature to attack. In the distance a cricket cries loudly causing both men to jump a little bit in response. Sam turns to look at his brother and lets out a quick sigh before turning his attention back to the bush in front of him. "Maybe it's gone…" Dean ponders out loud but Sam doesn't respond. He moves cautiously towards the bush and moves the position of his head a little to see inside. At first he can only see darkness, but as he shines his torch into the bush he sees the movement of light brown fur. He quickly raises his hand, motioning for Dean to move in a little closer. The pair watch as the fur stops moving and Dean slaps his brothers shoulder as hard as he can.
"That is a rabbit…" He whispers in anger to Sam, who suddenly relaxes. "We have been chasing a rabbit." He continues, trying to hide the anger in his voice as he turns around. Sam continues to watch the rabbit, letting out a light chuckle as the creature scampers off. He feels his brother hastily tap his shoulder which causes him to look up to the older Winchester.
"What is i-" He questions but is cut off when he sees the look in his brothers eyes. Dean is holding his torch up so that it is level with his hazel brown eyes. Sam feels his pulse rate quicken a little as he slowly stands up. He remains facing the bush until he feels hot breath run down the back of his neck. Turning around Sam meets a pair of black eyes that contain only a murderous rage. The creature breathes out of its large, moist nose, coating Sam in the stench of rotten flesh and blood. The creature stands only a little taller than himself and definitely looks like it has come straight out of a mythology book. The upper half of the creature looks like a white bull, with a red liquid smearing its face and horns which twist out in front of its head. The lower half of the creature resembled the body of a middle aged man, with extremely hairy legs and a slight pot belly.
"What do we do?" Dean whispers quietly, keeping his eyes locked onto the huge creature. Sam can sense the creatures deadly intent and raises his gun as if hypnotised by the creatures eyes. Hopefully he wouldn't need a special bullet to deal with the creature. Still keeping eye contact with the creature, Sam pulls the trigger and a bullet flies towards the Minotaur. The bullet connects with the creatures solid forehead, causing it to stumble backwards a little, but the bullet itself doesn't go in. Instead it ricochets violently towards Dean who barely manages to duck in time. "The hell." He shouts, looking to Sam in anger, "They said to use the special bullet." He continues as the Minotaur stands up and prepares to charge. Its left leg digs into the muddy earth as Sam quickly runs to a nearby tree and starts to climb up it. It takes him only a minute to reach a branch that can support him.
"Climb up that tree Dean," Sam orders, pointing to a tree right next to his brother. Dean quickly runs to it and tries to grab a branch, but can't quite reach. The Minotaur starts to move forward at amazing speed despite its pot-bellied appearance. Dean turns to face it, his arms open wide, like a goalie defending against a penalty. Sam can only watch as the creature gets closer and closer to his brother. Dean moves as close to the tree as humanly possible, his back rests against the bark. The Minotaur is now only a metre away from Dean, its legs digging further into the earth with each stride. "Dean!" Sam shouts as his brother dives to the side, barely missing the huge creature. The Minotaur charges straight into the tree, its horns pushing into the solid bark and the large creature becomes trapped. Dean brushes himself off and goes to examine his handiwork.
"Well, would you look at that." He states proudly as Sam lets go of the branch he was clinging on to. He lands on the ground and heads over to his brother, shaking his head in disbelief. "So, Sammy, what do we do now?" Dean questions, looking over to Sam who is currently examining the Minotaur.
"I don't know Dean," He replies looking across at his cheerful brother. "Someone dropped the gold lined bullet." He continues, before turning back to the Minotaur, noticing a strange mark on its back. He moves closer, being careful to not get hit by the creature's flailing arms. "Dean, what do you make of this?" He asks, pointing to the mark. Dean responds by moving closer and shining his torch onto the spot that Sam is pointing to. The mark looks like a T but has a small red tick over the top of it. Dean pulls a confused face, trying to remember whether he had seen it before.
"I think I've seen this before…" He begins, but Sam is one step ahead of him.
"We both have." He states, turning to face Dean. "Remember the university and the aliens?" He questions but only gets a blank look from Dean in return. "Okay then… What about The Mystery Spot?" He asks, trying to gain any form reaction from Dean.
"Oh, when you went all Groundhog Day?" Dean asks whilst smiling. Sam nods in response, looking back to the mark. "What does that have to do with anything?" Dean questions, looking even more confused than before.
"This is the signature of a certain man, isn't it…" Sam pauses slightly before turning around to look up at one of the tree's which is right behind him. "Gabriel?" Dean points his torch up to where Sam is looking and the light picks out a man in his late thirties sitting casually on one of the tree branches.
"Dr. Sexy M.D." Dean whispers, remembering their most recent encounter less than a month ago. Being thrown into a TV show in which someone pretends to be your favourite character is an experience that has been burned into Dean's mind.
"Looking for something, boys?" Gabriel questions whilst raising his hand into the light, revealing a golden bullet that glistens like a diamond. Sam looks back to the Minotaur and lets out a sigh, realising that this was a wild goose chase.
"There are easier ways to contact us." He states tiredly whilst running his hand through his hair. Dean watches the Minotaur as its head slowly disappears, being replaced by the head of a fifty year old man who looked like he had never seen sunlight or a mirror before.
"There really aren't." He replies, a mischievous grin on his face, but that quickly disappears as he remembers his job. "Anyway, to business." He demands, causing Dean to send a death glare before he starts to head off. "Just hear me out." Gabriel pleads, causing the older brother to stop in his tracks. "Stuff is going to go down in London. I can't say when exactly but it is sometime during July 2015…" He informs the duo, "And you need to be there." He quickly finishes, quickly checking the wrist watch on his hand.
"That's a little vague." Dean replies, but strangely finds himself believing the angel. He is about to ask how he knows this but Gabriel disappears into the shadows, leaving the brothers with one unconscious man and a lot of questions.