Title: Dude, that's not the Great Pumpkin
Author: Disasteriffic Kaz
Info: A Halloween romp in the mountains of NC. Mayhem, monster and fun contained within. Set post 1x03 Dead in the Water hurt/comfort/awesome!sam/dean
Author's Note: For some reason Chapter 1 fought coming out and I got hung up letting the boys rag on each other rather than do much of anything constructive. Lol let's hope chapter 2 goes a bit more smoothly eh? :D
Do please Review once you've read. :D Every comment and vote of support helps keep me writing. Not to mention if I've pooched anything, someone can always tell me. :P
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"No." Dean replied, prowling around the edges of the room. There were no windows, probably to keep whatever they once ground in the room dry. "Don't feel anything. Why?"
"Those ropes are moving." Sam waited for Dean too see them and then went for the far door once more. "Maybe the whole room's swaying slightly from being over the water?"
"That's comforting." Dean watched the ropes twitch back and forth and then gently come to a stop. "Don't think that's it." The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end; his sense of something wrong suddenly shouting at him. "Sammy…" He shouted in surprise as the floor beneath him erupted upward in a spray of wood and splinters at the same moment he dropped through.
CHAPTER 2
"Dean!" Sam sprinted back across the Mill room and dove, sliding the last few feet and just managed to catch hold of one of Dean's arms as he dropped. He grunted with the strain and pulled his head up.
"Holy crap!" Dean gasped and got his other arm out, finding purchase on the edge of the jagged hole. He had dropped into the water below and was sopping wet up to his chest. "Water's…lot deeper…under here than out there. Shit. Pull! Something just brushed my damn legs!"
Sam gritted his teeth and gave Dean's arm a strong tug until he was able to get first one leg and then the other up. Dean rolled away from the hole and Sam sucked in a relieved breath. He backed away and got to his knees. "Are you alright?"
Dean nodded and sat up. "Yeah. Nothin' hurt but my pride. You?"
Sam ran a hand down his chest and hissed in a breath. "Friggin splinters. Crap." His slide across the floor had earned him a dozen or more spots of blood down his chest and he could feel the small pieces of wood embedded there. He picked up his flashlight and shined it down into the hole warily. "Did you see anything?"
"No, dammit." Dean got to his feet, grabbed his fallen gun that had thankfully not gone in the hole with him and peered over the side. Water shone below in the light and nothing else. He shivered as the cold ate its way into his legs.
Sam got to his feet and pulled irritably at his shirt; it was stuck to his chest with the splinters. "Haven't even seen it yet and already I'm pissed at it."
Dean chuckled. "Come on, porcupine. Let's go get you cleaned up and make sure the kids are still breathin." He pulled Sam's arm. "Gun."
Sam knelt and recovered his gun. He backed across the room with Dean; his eyes riveted on the hole in case whatever had tried to get Dean made a reappearance. They reached the doors in peace and Dean pulled them closed. He picked up a stray piece of wood from the floor and wedged it through the handles with a shrug.
"That won't keep a fly in there." Sam observed with a chuckle.
"Best I can do." Dean led the way back down the stairs. At each junction he had to stop and think; sometimes letting Sam point him the right way and others finding it himself. It took them twice as long to reach the front of the Mill again and they could hear pop music playing through the hall. "Man, at least they could play some real tunes; not that poppy crap."
Sam chuckled. "You could always go back to the car. Get the Mullet Rock box."
Dean cuffed the back of his head. "Don't knock my music."
"Hey dudes. You find…whoa." Joey strode into the hall and then stopped mid-sentence to stare at Sam's chest and Dean's dripping legs. "What the hell happened to you two?"
"Watch where you walk." Dean said simply and took Sam's arm, ushering him past the surfer-wannabe and into the front room. He turned him and tugged the pack off his back while Cammie and Terry stared at Sam's blood spotted shirt.
"Weak spot in the floor." Sam told them and winced as he had to move his arms back so Dean could remove the pack.
"Geez. Ow." Terry came over and bent for a closer look.
"Personal space, man." Sam tapped Terry's beanie covered head.
Terry looked up at him with a smile. "I study nursing in addition to cinematography." He looked over and gave Sam a gentle push toward the beer cooler. "Sit."
"I got this." Dean said firmly and moved Terry aside. He didn't know the kids and innocent or not, he didn't trust them with his brother.
Sam shoved the cooler over by the window with his foot and sat so Dean would have the best light. "This is gonna suck." He said and shrugged the jacket and flannel off his arms before taking hold of the front of his t-shirt.
"Like a Band-Aid, Sammy." Dean told him and knelt with their first aid kit. He fished around and came up with a pair of tweezers and looked up in time to watch Sam yank the shirt out.
"Crap!" Sam gasped as the cotton material pulled some of the splinters free to fall to the floor. He pulled it over his head and groaned.
Dean chuckled and then looked over when he heard a loud sigh. Cammie was staring at Sam's bared upper body with a look that could only be described as hunger.
"Whoa." Cammie breathed and then blushed furiously; seeing Dean grinning at her.
"Think you got a fan, tiger." Dean slapped his brother's arm and bent in to study the damage while Sam turned red himself with embarrassment.
"Shut up." Sam glared as well as he could and surveyed his chest. He reached down and took hold of one of the larger splinters; gave it a quick tug and pulled it out with a grunt.
Dean let him pull the larger, more obvious ones and went after the smaller with the tweezers. "This one's gonna hurt." He could see one that had gone in and splayed beneath the skin; fanning out. He had to dig to get all of it and Sam was biting his lower lip when he finally removed all of it. In all, Dean removed seventeen splinters from his brother's chest and Sam muttered a 'thank god' when Dean declared the all clear.
"Last time I slide in to first to save your ass." Sam said with a smirk and took the pad Dean soaked with alcohol from him. He ran it over the bleeding wounds himself and tried not to notice Cammie, off in the corner who had simply watched the whole process with a dazed look.
"Yeah, she's drooling." Dean smothered a laugh and stood. He went to Sam's pack and pulled out his spare shirt. "Here." He tossed it to him and then looked over at Cammie. "You should probably breathe now."
"Huh? Oh…oh man." Cammie buried her face in her hands and looked back up with an awkward smile. "I'm gonna…uh…outside. Joey, grab the camera." She made a hasty exit and Terry and Joey both followed her with a laugh.
Joey stopped to waggle his brows at Dean. "Dude, if I swung that way I'd be droolin' too. Dayum."
Dean barked a laugh as they left and ducked the balled up, bloody shirt Sam threw at his head. "Shut up, Dean." Sam rolled his eyes and pulled the clean shirt on, anxious to not be on display anymore. "That thing, whatever the hell it is, is still out there." He pointed down. "Or under the damn floors. We have got to get those kids out of here."
Dean nodded. "I know. We will." He rolled his eyes. "We'll try anyway. I don't think drooly-chick is going anywhere without a fight."
Sam stood and pulled his jacket off the floor, pulling it back on. "We should round them back up."
"Yeah." Dean stepped out into the hall and frowned. They were nowhere in sight. "Aw come on. Cammie? Surfer boy?" He called and heard an answer from outside. "Dammit."
"We have to get out there." Sam's sense of impending danger had returned. He dove into his pack and pulled out the sawed off shotgun. "Come on." He ran past Dean and headed outside.
"Hang on!" Dean jogged behind him. "What's going on, Sam?"
Sam shook his head and ran outside, sliding to a stop on the uneven wood of the porch. Cammie and Joey stood twenty meters or so off in the trees but Terry was nowhere in sight. "Guys. Back inside." Sam jumped down off the deck and ran out to them, his eyes scanning through the dense trees. "Where's…what was his name? Terry."
"Getting some B-roll over there." Cammie waved a hand and stared open-mouthed at the shotgun. "What…are you going to do with that?"
"Get back inside." Sam took her arm and pulled her behind him, handing her off to Dean. "Joey. Go with them. I'll find Terry."
"Watch your back." Dean made them go at a quick walk, chivvying them faster. He didn't know what had put that looks on Sam's face but he trusted his brother's instincts. "Go dammit."
"What's happening?" Joey looked back over his shoulder and kept a hand on Cammie's shoulder as they reached the mill.
"Maybe nothing." Dean pushed them both inside. "Maybe something. It's not safe up here, remember? Stay put."
"Terry!" Sam called, following the general direction Cammie had indicated into the trees. He was heading slightly uphill toward the ridge and stopped. Crossing the moist earth at his feet were two sets of tracks. One the obvious print of the combat boots he had seen Terry wearing earlier. The other followed along beside the boot prints but was nothing he recognized. Sam knelt and ran his fingers around the edge of the print. He rose and started forward again. "Terry? Answer me!"
He followed the tracks further into the trees and sighed when he came upon a camera lying among the brightly colored leaves on the ground. "Crap." Sam bent and scooped it up, looking out into the forest. "Terry?"
"Sam!" Dean finally saw him and ran to catch up with him. "You find him?" Sam wordlessly handed the camera to his brother. "Well that doesn't bode well." The first niggle of guilt ate its way into Dean's stomach.
"Got tracks." Sam nodded to the ground.
"What the hell possesses kids like that to walk into shit like this?" Dean growled and took the lead further into the forest and up the hill. They went wide around a boulder and on the other side Sam gave a sad sigh.
"Ah hell." Sam bent and gingerly picked up Terry's beanie hat from the shadow of the rock. It was wet and he knew by the feel of it in his fingers that it was blood, not water. "We're too late."
"Yeah. Ok." Dean waved a hand back the way they'd come. "Let's see if we can keep the other two idiots alive. Go."
Sam nodded and kept the hat. He figured the guys friends would need some physical proof that he was lost to them. "We didn't even hear anything." He said quietly as they quickly retraced their steps. "He didn't even scream."
"I know." Dean's senses were tuned to the forest around them so he noticed the moment the birds stopped singing. "Sam?"
"I hear it." Sam stopped alongside him and listened to the unnerving silence that had descended upon them. "Split up?"
"No way." Dean shook his head. "Stay together. It's picking us off one by one." He started forward again and kept Sam at his side. "I don't like this." They broke into a jog as the mill came into view through the trees.
Sam could almost feel something at their backs and looked over his shoulder several times as they reached the building and jumped up to the deck. He slowed and looked back out through the trees. "Something's out there."
"No shit. Move." Dean pulled his arm and shoved him toward the closed door. Dean slammed it shut once they were inside and found Cammie and Joey huddled together in the hall beyond.
"Oh my god." Cammie's eyes widened. "What…is that…" She stared at the bloody beanie in Sam's hand. She looked up to find a grim sorrow on his face. "Terry?"
Sam shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"Oh god!" Cammie dissolved into tears and turned, burying her face in Joey's chest.
"Dude. Is he really…is he dead?" Joey asked softly and shook his head. "This is messed up."
"We need to find a better place to hole up." Dean ushered them into the front room where their packs were. "Grab your gear."
"What are you thinking?" Sam went and retrieved his pack, sliding it onto his shoulder. He laid Terry's beanie on the windowsill gently with a silent apology.
"Kitchen." Dean picked his own pack up. "Only the one window and it's on solid ground. Damn thing can't come up at us through the floor."
"The floor?" Joey froze in the act of handing Cammie her backpack. "Holy shit, man."
"Oh god. Oh god!" Cammie began to shake again. "We're gonna die here."
"Hey. Hey." Dean went and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're gonna be fine as long as we stay calm."
"We're all gonna die up here!" Cammie sobbed and threw herself at Dean, plastering herself to his chest.
"No, we're not." Dean patted her back awkwardly. "You wanna…take over here?" He asked Joey and got a solemn nod.
"Yeah. I got her. Come on, Cammie. Cammie." Joey pried her arms loose from Dean and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. He looked up to Dean sadly. "This sucks, dude."
"Usually." Dean nodded. He went over and pulled up Joey and Cammie's pack, hefting them in one hand. "We need to move." He ushered them both out the door.
"Dean…" Sam took a single step away from the window and shouted in surprise as something looped around his neck.
"Sam!" Dean watched something long and thin whip in through the empty window, wrap around his brother's neck and pull him bodily out of sight. He dropped the backs and grabbed his shotgun at a run. He threw a leg over the frame and saw Sam dozens of feet away being pulled toward the tree line, struggling all the way. "Sammy!" Terry's bloody beanie seemed to mock him from the sill and Dean leaped outside and took off at a run after his brother. He sprinted in an effort to keep Sam's flailing legs in sight as the trees grew more closely together.
Sam managed to raise his head a few times and saw Dean racing behind, trying to catch him up. His face was a study in fury. Sam hoped that look was never directed at him. He'd seen it many times throughout his life and the subject of that fury never came out well. The thing around his neck tugged harder, cutting off his air and forcing his head to thump into the ground as he was dragged. He curled the fingers of one hand around it to try and give himself room to breathe. With his other hand he struggled to reach the knife sheathed at his back. Roots and rocks thumped into his back and shoulders, singing pain along his spine. He shifted, throwing his hips to one side and finally got room enough to wrap his hand around the hilt and yank it free. His vision was beginning to darken, his lungs to strain with the need for air. He reached behind his head with the blade. It took several tries to connect with whatever held him and at last he managed to lodge the knife into it and sever it. Sam rolled several feet with the sudden shift of momentum and he scrabbled to remove the thing from his throat. It was some sort of root or vine and at last he sucked in a wheezing breath as the darkness slowly cleared from his vision.
"Sammy!" Dean had watched as Sam pulled the knife free. He'd seen it glint it in the fading afternoon light and silently urged him to hurry. He saw Sam cut through and roll into the leaves and Dean slid to a stop beside him. He dropped to his knees and pushed Sam over to his back with one hand, keeping his shotgun up in the direction Sam had been pulled. "You ok?"
Sam nodded quickly, incapable of speech still as he heaved gales of air in and out. "See it?" He said finally in a voice hoarse and scratchy through his abused throat.
Dean shook his head. "No." He stood and took a step away. He reared back in surprise as the creature rose up beyond the trees a mere ten meters away. "Holy…shit." It's body looked like the gnarled trunk of a twisted tree. Lithe roots whipped and twisted around it like myriad arms searching for prey but it was the head that left him speechless. It was a massive pumpkin with a macabre caricature of a human face. Flames burned inside of it and boiled out through a gap at the top. As he watched the carved eyes narrowed in anger. "Uh uh." Dean raised the gun and fired into the pumpkin's face. It roared with rage. He fired again and took a step closer. The creature shook with each blast as chunks of its 'head' spun off into the trees and it fled.
"Was that…" Sam had regained his feet and limped up beside his brother, eyes wide.
"Dude. Pumpkinhead." Dean shook his head slowly in disbelief. "That…was a friggin pumpkinhead! What the hell?"
"I really saw that." Sam rubbed a hand over his neck and stared. "This isn't hypoxia screwing with me, right?"
"Shit." Dean turned and grabbed Sam's chin, lifting his head. He scowled. Bruises ringed Sam's throat, quickly darkening as he watched. "Anywhere else?"
"Just banged up I think." Sam pulled his eyes away from where the creature had stood finally. "We need to get back. Those kids are helpless."
"We are so screwed." Dean took his arm and turned him, keeping his grip as they walked and scanning the forest for the impossible monster. "How the hell do we kill a Pumpkinhead?"
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To Be Continued…
I'm going to try to get Chapter 3 finished before tonight but if I don't, you'll have to wait until next week probably. :D This weekend is the Supernatural Convention in Chicago and I leave bright and ridiculously early tomorrow. Lol One way or another, I'll be back to this and you on Tuesday kids!