After several hours of driving, and stopping for two different meals, the brothers finally made their way up the mountain where the journal coordinates were pinpointed. There weren't any hiking trails where they were going but a few miles down from the mountain's peek was a public lake; the open water Sam assumed would be the first place the snake would head to once it woke up.
The two parked the impala off the road, hiding it under one of the drier patches of brush, and hiked the rest of the way through the woods. It was pouring rain when they first left the car, and after hiking for a mile they were treading in ankle-deep mud.
"Peachy" Sam growled as he struggled to remove his right leg from a deep hole of mire. "It's like the Indians cursed the weather to keep anyone from stopping this thing."
"Awwww" Dean mocked, pursing his lips into a pouty face "Iz Sammy upset cause he got his shoes muddy?"
"Shut up" Sam growled, pulling the hood of his Carhartt jacket farther over his head, a few beads of water rolling off its rim; "and why aren't you complaining? Aren't you the one who has to voice any inconvenience or annoyance that pops into our lives?"
"Come on Sam, just because you have a bad attitude doesn't mean I have to."
Sam snorted and treaded on ahead of his brother, his long legs giving him an advantage in maneuvering across the sodden ground.
The rain lightened up after another hour but the sky remained overcast and the forest continued to drip from condensation. It was about that time that Sam came to a stop at a break in the trees. There was a rocky cave in the hillside where the two had decided to set up base camp for the next few days.
"So, it's around here somewhere?" Dean asked, dropping his bags on a dry patch of earth.
"Looks like it" Sam replied, following his brother's lead and setting his bags in the same space.
"Soooo" Dean said, swinging his arms and rocking back and forth on his heals "what do we do, roast marshmallows till the snake pops out?"
Sam sighed and put his hands on his hips, "I guess we should split up and call each other when we see the monster. There's a pretty broad span of area that we should be keeping an eye on so the chances of us finding will be a lot more likely."
"Great" Dean mumbled "walking through the cold forest, all alone, in the friggin rain, and waiting for some giant snake to wake up sounds like a ton of fun."
"Now who's got a bad attitude?"
"Let's just say I'm prayin' that this thing has a major hangover when it comes back to the land of the living."
After the two had set up camp, they headed out together to get a feel of the area so that they would be accustomed to their surroundings if a battle were to take place. Hiking for another hour they came to a stop at an opening overlooking what looked like a lake of solid mud. There was a steep ravine that went down around thirty yards from where they were standing to the foot of the mud pit. Shadows of scattered clouds made dark patterns on the pale mud below and a few light drops fell from the sky.
The two paused to rest from hiking most of the day, though the view wasn't very appealing. Plopping down on a fallen oak tree, Dean pulled out a snicker bar and settled back to enjoy the silence. If he were with a stranger he would have found it awkward to not be carrying on a conversation, but with Sam it was as common as not talking to himself. Sam didn't eat, but walked closer to the edge of the slope taking note of certain landmarks.
He felt his foot slip on something other than mud and steadied himself, looking down to where he had just stepped. The mud around his foot was clumped up and brown water seeped into the hole where his boot had just been. The terrain he had stepped on was unusual so he bent down, wiping away the puddle of water and reaching his hand down to touch the odd surface. It was rough, but somewhat slick at the same time. Cocking his head in curiosity he began to dig away at the dark mud, revealing a paler brown material underneath.
"Hey Sammy" Dean called over "if you wanna make mud pies we can do it when we get back."
"It couldn't be…" Sam mumbled, ignoring his brother's taunts. As he continued to dig up the mud, the odd terrain seemed to stay the same, causing him to grow frustrated in his effort. His digging however led him to an unusual fold in the pale brown terrain.
"What the…" he started, touching the odd lumps "…no way."
"What's up?" Dean asked getting up from his makeshift chair and walking over to his younger brother.
"We might just have the most random strike of luck in the history of our career."
"That's not saying much considering out crap luck."
"Really Dean… this might actually be…" Sam pulled one hand back to where his scythe was sheathed on his belt and the other he separated the folds of the leathery terrain. A huge pale blue eye peeked through the ugly brown lids that he had pulled apart.
"Holy crap, it's the-" he was cut off when the snake's huge head suddenly burst from the ground, slamming its long snout into his chest. Sam yelled out in pain and surprise as he was sent flying off the ledge, nothing but open space between him and the buddy slope he had been looking over minutes earlier.
He heard his brother yell his name and looked back to see the rest of the snake's body rise from the muddy slope. It towered over him, dripping with clumpy mud, and he didn't know whether to brace himself for the fall or for the snake's attack. Time seemed to slow down as he watched his brother leap from the precipice, directly at the awakened monster. He prepared himself for contact with the ground, the last thing he saw was Dean hooking his scythe into the snake's pale-brown skin, dragging it down with the force of his own weight.
The mud lessened the blow to Sam's shoulder when he struck the ground, but the momentum was enough to knock the breath out of him and send him careening down the rest of the embankment. He struck the ground two more times before rolling into the deep mud at the foot of the slope. Immediately he was scrambling to his feet, dazed from the fall but his heart racing with urgency knowing that his brother was taking on the monster snake alone.
As he wiped the mud from his eyes, Sam took in the sounds of battle just a few yards from him. The snake was making an odd puffing noise, resembling that of a deer blowing when it is alarmed. A low hiss could also be heard rumbling from the back of its throat, which must have meant the thing was seriously ticked. Sam blinked away the remaining mud from his eyes and saw that the creature's body stretched from the top of the slope, down to the giant mud pit he had fallen into, where it's lower half was coiled. A long gash ran down from below its jaw to one of the tiny brown legs that protruded a few yards from the head.
He saw that Dean had been thrown back to the muddy slope where he was slipping and sliding to regain his footing. The snake had reared back, balancing its long torso with the scrawny legs that were braced against the damp embankment. It was a very pale brown, its face narrow and long and its fangs small, curved in, and sharp. Every few yards down its body were a pair of tiny legs.
Sam was relieved to find that his scythe was still attached to his belt, and even more relieved that he hadn't landed on it during his tumble down the embankment. Grabbing it, he charged towards the snake as it rapidly began to slide the rest of its body up the slope, sloshing the wet mud in every direction. The creature snapped at Dean, who jumped out of the way just in time, sliding a few more yards down the slick incline than he had intended. He dug his scythe into the earth to slow himself, only to be forced to take another leap as the snake struck out again.
Realizing how much danger his brother was in, Sam took advantage of the distraction and slid to where the snake had braced itself with two small legs. Swinging his powerful long arms with all of his might, he sliced off one of the limbs, causing the monster to let out an enraged hiss and fall back into the mud lake.
The creature was quicker to recover than Sam had expected, its coils twisting furiously in the wet soil as it snapped its head down at him.
"SAM RUN!" he heard Dean yell, but the snake had already shot its monstrous head towards him. He swung his blade up at the reptile's snout, the force of the blow too powerful to be stopped, but his quick block was enough to deflect some of its impact, cutting into the front of the snake's nostril. He fell back into the two foot deep puddle of mud, the breath knocked out of him. Quickly raising his weapon again, he looked up expecting another strike. The snake's bleeding snout was inches from his face when he opened his eyes and he went to bring his blade up again, but was too late. A puff of slime shot out of the creature's mouth, hitting him square in the face.
Sam screamed in agony as the liquid burned his eyes, but his natural instinct caused him to jump away from the threat as the snake struck at him again. He scrambled to run through the mud that came to his knees, but panic rose in him as he realized that he couldn't even see to know which way to go to escape. The snake's spit burned like acid into his eyes and he yelled out again as another burst of pain shot through him.
There was a sudden drop in the terrain under the wet mud, causing him to stumble and fall on all fours, panting in pain and fear. He was blind in a sea of thick mud with a monster snake somewhere behind him. Doing what he had learned to do through all the years of fighting horrific things, he swung his weapon around and turned to face the beast head on.
Suddenly, he heard the voice of his brother yelling; one of the only things that could rid him of his fear.
"Get away from my brother you overgrown turd!"
Sam heard the snake let out another hiss of rage, indicating that Dean had landed another blow. The sound of the creature's huge body slapping mud overpowered his brother's battle cry, a large splatter hitting him head on. Wiping the mire, once again, from his face, Sam painfully attempted to open his eyes, praying that no permanent damage had been done to his eyesight.
He heard Dean yell out and the urgency to regain his vision heightened and he rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of the brown blurs he was taking in. He saw movement to his right as his eyes began to distinguish shapes and motion. He could tell that the snake had circled around to his other side, and to his relief he saw the dark blurry figure of his brother still in action. The creature's movements, to his surprised, seemed to still be centered on him rather than his brother as it circled, apparently holding a grudge that he had cut off one of its legs. He pulled his scythe from the mud and began to make his way back to his feet, his eyes pleading with him to close them so he could ease the pain of the burning acid in them, but he didn't have the time to give into the pain.
Through his blurry vision he looked up to see that his brother had been pushed back with another blow from the monster, skidding back through the mud between Sam and his attacker. Dean stood over him protectively as the snake circled again, its tiny legs making its movements almost insect-like as it tried to find a way past the annoyance between it and its pray.
"You alright Sammy?" Dean asked, reaching a hand down, which Sam took, returning to his feet.
"Yeah" he answered, blinking back tears as he tried to pinpoint where the snake's head was. "Just don't let the darn thing spit on you."
"I noticed… Sam we have to get out of here. This thing is seriously ticked and neither of us are in a condition to fight it off at the moment."
"What, are you hurt?" Sam exclaimed with alarm.
"No no, it's just I can't be watching your blind butt and kill the snake at the same time. We have to –" he was cut off by another strike from the blur Sam took was the monster. Dean jumped to the side, yanking his brother with him.
"Run" he exclaimed, continuing to pull Sam after him. Once Sam had regained his bearings and started to sprint next to him, he let go, both of them slipping through the wet mud as the snake reared back again. His long legs giving his the advantage over his brother, Sam took the lead as they dashed toward solid ground and the edge of the forest where they could find cover.
Suddenly Sam heard Dean stumble behind him and he turned to see his brother struggling to get up from his knees. He moved without thought as he saw the monster bear down on his brother, sliding to stop his momentum, he dashed back to where the older hunter had fallen. Grabbing Dean's collar and shoving him behind himself, Sam raised his scythe once again, hoping that letting his arm flow with the impact of the snake's attack would be enough to deflect it. To his surprise his block worked, and the monster, once again, was averted from digging it's sharp fangs into its prey. The enraged creature was quick to retaliate, striking again as soon as it had steadied itself. This time Sam was ready, shoving the two of them to the side right when the snake went for the attack, missing them by mere inches. At the moment the snake's head struck where the brothers had just been, Sam raised his scythe and slammed the blade right into the monster's pearly blue eye.
The monster let out an enraged hiss and reared back, the rest of its body writhing violently in the mud. It began to flop around, sending the wet sludge flying in every direction as its tiny legs scrambled to find relief. With a final slash of its tail, the creature scurried out of the lake of mud, into the forest, leaving a trail of muck behind it.
Sam let out a sigh of relief and fell back into the mud, exhausted but glad to be able to close his eyes and give them the relief they had been pleading for.
"Wow" Dean panted "that went well."
"Seriously" Sam replied, bringing a hand to his eyelids, hoping that putting pressure on them would relieve the burning underneath.
"You ok Sammy?" Dean asked, his voice coated with worry as he quickly made his way over to his brother.
"Yeah yeah" Sam replied as his brother began to feel over him for any other injuries, focusing his attention on his eyes after he confirmed that there weren't any that were too serious. "Just the darn snake spit in my eyes" he groaned as he squeezed them shut tighter.
Dean wiped away the mud from his brother's face to take a good look at the effect of the saliva, seeing that his skin was raw and red where it had touched.
"Hold on Sam, I'll go get some water" he said, dashing off to fetch the bottles they had left up at the top of the slope. Sam got up and began, in vain, wiping some of the mud off of himself.
He ached all over from the fall and the snake's attacks, but he realized it could have been a lot worse. He hated that he hadn't been able to see the rest of the fight, curious to know how his brother had managed to keep the monster at bay. Then he remembered his brother's yell from earlier and his stumble during their escape. Had the yell been out of anger or pain?
As the thought came to him, Dean returned panting.
"Alright Sam, I hope this helps" he said. Sam leaned his head back and forced his eyes open so Dean could pour the clean water into them. The cool liquid brought more relief to him than he had thought it would, washing away the remaining spit and soothing the acidic sting.
"Dude, you were friggin epic taking out that things eye" Dean said as he saw his brother relax, "thanks for saving my butt there."
"I owed it to you since you were protecting me the whole first part of the fight."
"Sam, you were thrown down a thirty foot slope and got cursed snake spit in your eyes, it's not exactly your fault that you needed some protecting."
"But weren't you hurt as well?" Sam asked, hoping that assuming Dean was injured would make him fess up.
"What? No. I mean I was tossed around a bit, same as you, but I'm fine" he responded, but the over defensive tone of his voice made the younger sibling doubt his words.
"But you fell when we were trying to escape."
"So? I slipped."
"You don't just "slip" during a retreat Dean, I know you."
"Well sorry I slipped this time Sam, it's not like we were running through two feet of mud or anything."
"Ok, then let me look you over just to be sure."
Dean jerked away from Sam as his brother reached for him.
"Alright alright, so I'm a little hurt, but we don't have time to be worrying about it right now. That snake's making its way down the mountain to the first water source it can find which just so happens to be a public lake, and we need to stop it before it gets there."
"We won't do any good trying to stop it if you're injured without any first-aid. Just let me take a look at it for a second."
"Sam, if that things this tough to take down on land, I don't even want to know how much of a pain it will be when it gets to its natural environment. We have to beat it to the lake and we simply don't have time to be doing patch-up right now."
Dean stood back up to his full height as he spoke, Sam noting him trying to be subtle about his arm wrapped protectively around his side and how his freckles stood out against the paleness of his skin.
"Of course… I have no idea how we're going to stop this thing" he said as Sam followed him in standing to his feet. "Have any ideas?"
"As a matter of fact I do" Sam replied, looking over at his muddy brother who responded with a smug grin.
"Then tell me as we go" he replied, turning to re-climb the muddy slope which was in riddled with deep gouges where the snake had been.
Sam frowned, worried about his brother's condition and frustrated that he couldn't do anything about it yet. Letting out a sigh, he followed Dean's lead and the two brothers, who were both brown with mud, hurried to catch up with the monster they had just faced off with.
TBC…
Alrighty! The story is moving right along! Hopefully you guys are enjoying it. WILL WRITE FOR REVIEWS.
I really appreciate all of the support so far (even though I'm new to the world of SPN fanfiction writing). I got some corrections and help for the first chapter so I will update that with those mistakes fixed (for the most part).
Dreamlitnight- thanks for taking a look at my story and I hope you enjoy the rest of it ^_^
Dizzo- I am sooo excited to get a review from you! You are very kind! I'm really glad you approved of the first chapter! Dean and Sam are such wonderful characters and my goal is to keep them in character as best I can so not to soil their original awesomeness. XD yay! Go google that mess!
Queen Bee- Thank you so much for the review! It was encouraging and also helpful (thanks for the edit, I fixed it ^_^) I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
Smalld1171- Thank you so much for taking time to look at my humble little fic! I am very excited to get a review from you since I do love your stories so much! You were so encouraging! I shall try very hard to do a good job!
Slinky-and-the-BloodyWands- lol XD seriously, who can resist a giant snake story? Thank you so much for the review! It made me very happy and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the story ^_^
Thanks again!