AN: I started this piece before Counting Bodies Like Sheep, and Emperor's New Clothes, but it ended up becoming a back-burner type deal. Set in season two, sometime after Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.Story and chapter titles come from a Three Days Grace song, Human Race.
Damn Derek Adams. That stupid son of a bitch screwed up, and so Kennedy Miller had to stay behind and clean up his mess for him? God, she hated her job sometimes. And now- now she was going to miss the new Doctor Who episode! And she was simply not willing to let Alice Walker tell her about it before she got her chance to watch it.
Stupid Alice, with her stupid, 'My child is on the honour roll' sticker adorned mini-van. Congratulations, Alice, your kid can add. Go tell someone who cares.
Begrudgingly, Kennedy decided to take a short-cut through the woods. Damn, she'd kill not to have vowed to walk to work as her New Year's resolution. Damn, stupid New Year's...
She trudged angrily through the forest, the leaves and branches crunching beneath her heels. This damn, stupid mud was going to ruin her new shoes!
Kennedy gave a huff as she slipped off her heels, clutching them tightly. She lived three damn blocks away, why hadn't she brought a different damn pair of shoes? Oh, great, now her muddy feet would dirty up her carpet. Damn mud!
The moderately cool forest floor underneath her feet sent goosebumps prickling through her body, and she shivered. She hugged herself to warm up, getting chills from more than just the woods.
At last, the row of houses was within her sight-line. But within one step, her foot caught onto something, and she landed face-first in the dirt. She fell with an angry screech, furiously digging pounding her fist onto the ground. She whipped her head around to see what she had tripped over, and huffed. Damn, stupid tree root!
As she brushed herself off and got back to her feet, she glared at the offending piece of nature, but froze completely when it suddenly moved.
Kennedy let out a scream as the root pried itself from the confines of the earth it had been trapped under, and began to reach for her. She tried to run to the safety of her neighbourhood, but then the root snaked around her ankle, and dragged her back into that horrible place.
Her nails bent and cracked as she clawed at the forest floor, crying out screams of terror, and pleas for mercy.
Many heard, but none came.
As the screams continued, there was a small thump, as a lone high heel fell to the ground...
"Really, Sam?" Dean asked with one eyebrow raised. "Evil trees?"
"Hey, I'm just reading what the article says. Didn't say it was a completely reliable source." Sam said. "Besides, it did get one thing right. All these people showed up torn apart and beaten to death in the woods."
"But seriously, evil trees? That really what we've been reduced to?"
Sam simply shrugged, favouring his left side considering how his right hand was still encased in a cast. Stupid, crazy-ass zombie chick.
"Alright, I'm listening. Run me through it." Dean caved at last.
Smiling slightly at his little victory, Sam began his recount of their case so far. "So, started with a woman named Kennedy Miller. The entire neighbourhood heard her screaming, but nobody bothered to come help her."
"You-you freaking serious? Okay, they gotta be in on it or something."
"I'd like to believe that too, but then why would they have admitted to hearing her scream? As bad as it is, I think it's just a case of people being too self-centred to bother to help."
"That-that's terrible."
"Welcome to the human race, Dean."
Dean tightened his grip on the steering wheel, now pissed as hell. "Keep going, I don't wanna hear about that anymore."
"Second vic, Charles Weston. Reported screams again, but people say that someone actually went out to help this time-"
"Thank God." Dean interrupted.
"And then," Sam continued, "They became victim umber three."
Oh... "Who was that?"
"Marty Elwood. After him, that's when teenagers started to go missing. Started going out on dares and stuff, and then one group went out together, and only one of 'em got out alive. That's how the evil tree theory came to life, according to the one that got away."
"Sounds like a pretty good witness to talk to, unless the kid's lying through their teeth."
"Her friends are dead, Dean. That much we're sure about. And as of now, she's the best lead we've got."
"Alright, fair enough. What's her name?"
"Amanda Ficus. Seventeen, and overtly traumatised."
"Just what every guy wants. You got an address?"
"We stop somewhere with wi-fi and I can get one."
"Diner up ahead. You find her address, and I'll get into the fed suit and order us some food, and then you can get changed."
"Sounds like a plan."
A few taps of a keyboard, a salad, a burger, and a few slices of pie later, and the boys were off to talk to their witness.
"So, Amanda, are you sure this a good time?" Sam attempted to comfort. "We know that this has got to be hard for you."
"You don't know crap." Amanda snapped suddenly, only to lower her head immediately after the remark. "S-sorry. It's just- my best friends... A-all of them."
"We're so sorry." Sam said sincerely.
"Would you mind telling us what you were even doing out in the woods in the first place?" Dean asked, more than willing to take the role of 'bad cop.'
"Being idiots." She admitted shamefully. "We heard about the murders, and we wanted to sneak into the forest and- yknow, try to freak each other out. It-it was stupid, I know that now."
"Can you tell us exactly what happened?"
Amanda scoffed. "Not sure you guys are gonna believe me."
"We just want to help." Sam said genuinely.
Hesitating, Amanda nervously twiddled her thumbs, but as last, she sighed. "We were hiking, an-and Bailey, m-my friend, started screaming. We all turned around an-and she was up in the air. Th-the tree was holding her by the ankle, and then it-" She closed her eyes, voice trembling as much as she was. "It stuck a branch through her stomach. W-we all started running, but-but the branches were everywhere. Th-they kept grabbing everyone, k-killing everyone, an-and they were screaming, crying, begging-!"
"Okay." Sam cut her off, able to tell that she was nearing hysteria as she recounted her horrific tale. "How did you get out, Amanda?"
Amanda took a deep breath, clearly an attempt to calm down. "It- th-the tree was distracted. I-I just managed to escape before it got to me." She laughed helplessly, wiping away a tear that had fallen. "You probably think I'm crazy now, huh? Crazy... and alone."
"Did you see anybody else in the forest?" Dean asked.
She just shook her head.
"You sure?" He probed a little further.
"It's not like I was looking that hard when I was running for my life while my friends were getting slaughtered." She snapped.
"S-sorry." Dean muttered.
"Would you say that it was maybe- unnaturally cold in the forest?" Sam asked.
"Are you making fun of me?!" She retorted.
"What?" Sam asked, voice squeaking a bit from how awkward he and the situation were becoming. "N-no, I-"
"We're done here." She stated, standing up and heading to the door, opening it for them.
Slightly embarrassed and guilty, the brother got up, and left her house.
"Thank you for you-"
SLAM.
"Time..." Sam finished awkwardly.
"Well, that went well." Said Dean.
"Yeah, no kidding."
"Big help that was too. Now we've learned exactly-" He paused, as though in thought. "Nothing."
"Well, it's definitely got something to do with the tree."
"Thanks, Sam."
Sam huffed. "I'll do research back at the hotel, find out if there's any lore in the forest. See if anybody died in the woods, and if their spirit could be possessing the tree."
"Could be a witch." Dean suggested.
"Or some kind of forest sprite." Sam added.
"Or an actual possessed tree."
Pushing out an exhausted breath and running a hand through his hair, Sam huffed again. "This is gonna suck."
AN: This entire fic is completely finished, and I am off every day this week, so I plan to post one chapter per day! There are three total, so hopefully this'll be done by Wednesday, but if not it'll be before the end of this week. And since the chapters are complete, you know what that means!
Sneak Peek: "Dean hated the guys with tempers. They were always the ones that made a scene, and scene-making was never good."
In short, Dean goes researching and hustling in the local bar, and things get- a bit out of hand. Planning on posting this tomorrow, so be on the lookout, but drop a review if you're enjoying so far, and hopefully I shall see y'all tomorrow!
