Author's note: I wrote this fiction on the assumption that Sam and Bobby bust Dean out of Hell. It's been five months since the showdown in New Harmony. Dean is back and dealing with the aftermath. When kids start getting abducted from towns bordering Samuel Colt's 100 mile Devil's trap, he and Sam go investigate.
Other People
Prologue
Tobias "Toby" Fletcher was kept in darkness. He knew that he was in some kind of a tent because he could hear nearby voices and feel the cold wind as it whipped through the fabric, chilling his little body to the bone. The last couple of days had passed in a blur of darkness and motion. Every few hours, a cloaked figure would push a tray of food toward him. Wonderful food. His favorite foods. Pizza and barbecued chicken drumsticks, burgers and hot dogs. At first he kicked the food away. All he wanted was his mommy. He cried endlessly for his mommy. But hunger eventually drove him to eat and now he looked forward to these meals. They were the only good thing in his world.
Sleep was a mixed blessing. Mostly, it was fitful, with fear and confusion seeping into his dreams. But sometimes, she was there. About six years old, his age, with big blue eyes and angel hair - white and glowing like the sun - and he didn't know why, but he just needed to be with her. Other times, he was back in that department store. Weaving behind his mommy through the racks of clothing as tall as trees. He'd been so bored. The store was stuffy and crowded and he was getting antsy. Then he'd heard someone call his name. He looked up at his mom, but she was busily thumbing through a stack of t-shirts. He'd peered down an aisle and that's when he saw her. Just the sight of her filled him with happiness. She smiled sweetly at him and waved for him to come over. He had no thought other than to follow. And he did. Through the store, out the door, and then it all faded into darkness.
Right now, something was happening. Something different. There was movement and the cloth doors were drawn apart allowing a cloaked figure to step inside. Toby could see the flickering light of a distant fire, but that was soon extinguished as a black hood was forced roughly over his head. He squealed, as much in surprise as in fear. A thick hand gripped his wrist like a vise and he was led away from the tent, over rocky earth, and into light. Burning fires reflected against the dark cloth of his hood and his vision pulsed like throbbing blood. Around him, on all sides, he could hear chanting. A chorus of voices talking together in some funny language.
They came to a quick halt and the hand released his wrist and fluidly picked him up from under the armpits - setting him on a cold stone slab. In another quick movement, the hood was pulled from his head and he blinked into the light. Toby took in his surroundings, fear muting him into silence. They were in a graveyard. He knew from the trips his parents had taken him on to visit grandpa Charlie at National Cemetery. Crumbling headstones and grave markers dotted the patchy grass around them. The stone they'd sat him on was a crypt, a makeshift altar. People of all shapes, sizes and ages, draped in robes of deep red, wreathed him from all sides. They looked like normal people, but their eyes were all wrong. Blacked out like monsters. A deep shiver shook his frame.
As he stared out, he could feel the terror rising in him. Filling his stomach and clawing up his chest. He was about to find his voice and start screaming when a small figure stepped in front of him. Her hair blazed like spun gold in the firelight. Her eyes, large blue discs, gazed up at him solemnly. He was spellbound. The girl moved up to him and put a delicate hand on his shoulder. She looked deep into his eyes and smiled reassuringly. The boy relaxed. He trusted and was hers completely. As he stared into the crystal pools of her eyes, they fogged over, clouding a milky white. And he was in oblivion. In a flash of movement, quick as lightning, a tiny hand whipped up into the air and brought down a dagger. Stabbing the blade deep into Tobias Fletcher's heart.