Chapter 2: Going Under

The panic set in as Dean watched from the corner of his eye, the Impala slowly start to go under. The pockets of air trapped inside the car were the only thing keeping it afloat, but as those started seeping out and water started rushing in, he knew there wasn't much time before his car would slip below the surface; taking Sam straight down to the bottom with it. He swore under his breath as he struggled to pull his hands free from the ropes, crying out in pain when he felt the rusty barb wire dig into his flesh. Like dozens of sharp teeth grabbing hold, the more he moved his hands around, trying to gain slack and loosen the knots in the rope, the deeper the barbs dug into his wrists. He could now feel the warmth of his own blood in his hands as he continued to tug and pull, desperately trying to free himself before the Impala completely disappeared from sight. Though the pain was unbearable, the thought of what Sam was going through; trapped in the darkness as water surged in, was enough to make him forget about his own agony. When the ropes finally loosened off enough, he sucked in a breath and pulled his hands out in one swift motion; letting out gut-wrenching scream as he ripped his hands free from the barb wire's sharp grasp.

He didn't even bother looking down at them as he pulled himself up off the ground. The last thing he wanted to see right now was the damage he'd just done, he knew it was bad, he could feel it already. Racing down the steep slope towards the lake, his eyes locked on the car's back end jutting out of the water; his baby was sitting at an angle and though the lights were still on, the engine had stalled. His head was pounding, his hands were dripping with blood, each and every step he took reverberated in his wounded shoulder, but the only thing he could think of was Sam. He removed his leather jacket and let it fall to the ground behind him as he entered the frigid water without hesitation; swearing to himself as the cold hit him like thousands of pins and needles. "Hang in there Sammy, I'm coming!" He called out, fighting the cold that surrounded him to make his way over to the car some twenty feet away. In no time, the bottom disappeared from below his feet and he was forced to swim, a movement that brought on a whole new level of pain in his shoulder. Though it had taken less than a minute to make his way out to the car, the seconds seemed to drag on as he struggled through the cold water. "Sammy?" He called out again, reaching to grab a hold of the rear bumper and pulling himself towards it as he tried to catch his breath.

"DEAN! You've got to get me out of here, the water's coming in fast!"

Though he was relieved to hear the other man's muffled voice, he knew that their terrifying ordeal was far from being over. "Just hang in there, Sam!" He replied, doing his best to hide the panic in his voice as he passed a hand over the small lock, trying to gather his scattered thoughts. He needed the keys that were still in the ignition to open the trunk, and that would mean diving down into the dark murky water to retrieve them. Using the rear fender to pull himself through the water, he quickly made his way around the side of the car, his heart pounding right out of his chest as he took a deep breath and went under. He could almost hear the seconds ticking away in the back of his mind as he traced the Impala's curves down to the driver's open window. Wasting no time, he reached into the submerged car, pulled the keys from the ignition and made his way back up to the surface; swearing to himself as he felt the deep breath pull at his injured shoulder. Swimming back to the trunk with the keys in his tight grip, he could feel his body start to shut down... he'd already lost alot of blood and his body temperature was dropping fast. He knew it was only a matter of time now before everything around him would fade to black, but he pushed himself along anyway, hoping that the agonizing pain would be enough of a distraction to keep him from giving in to the darkness that was threatening to take him.

"DEAN, HURRY!"

When the Impala suddenly slipped a few inches below the surface of the water, releasing another one of the air pockets that had been keeping it afloat, his heart sank along with it. "Shit..." He muttered to himself, fumbling with the keys in his bloody hands as the car slowly started slipping under right before his eyes. In one swift motion, he shoved the key into the lock and gave it a turn, pulling the trunk open with one hand as he reached in to grab his brother with the other. It happened so fast, Dean barely had time to react as water came up over the fenders, rushing into the trunk before Sam was even out of it, and sending his beloved Impala straight to the bottom in a matter of only seconds. With little more than a burst of turbulent water and bubbles, the car had vanished right out from under them, leaving them out in the lake with noting to hang onto.

Trying to stay afloat with both hands tied behind his back, Sam soon found himself struggling just to keep his head above the frigid water. "Dean..." He gasped, his words barely coming together as he started coughing. "Dean... the ropes."

With the other man in obvious distress, Dean quickly reached for the blade in his pocket; all the while fighting the pain and exhaustion to keep his own head from going under. "Hold still, I'm going to cut you loose." He said, forcing his younger brother to turn around as he reached into the dark water to grab his bound hands. Though he couldn't see what he was doing, he slipped the blade under the ropes and carefully started slicing until Sam was able to pull his hands apart. "We need to get out of here..." He continued, stating the obvious as both started swimming for the shoreline.

The agony Dean had felt swimming out to the sinking Impala had been nothing compared to what he faced as he and his brother swam back towards the shoreline. The distance hadn't changed, that much he knew, but pushed to the very edge of his physical and mental endurance, he couldn't help but feel as if the swim was taking him twice as long to accomplish. By the time his feet finally touched the bottom, he was so exhausted he could barely walk his way out of the lake; something that didn't go unnoticed by his younger brother.

"Dean?" Sam started, watching as the other man struggled to take a few steps in the shallow water. "Dean, you alright?" He continued, his eyes instantly focusing on the bloody hand Dean had tightly pressed to his chest. Though he knew Dean had been shot, it was the first glimpse he'd had of his brother since the vicious attack, and now that he could actually see what state the other man was in, Sam knew they were in trouble. He swallowed hard, his mind starting to race as he watched the blood and water drip down from his older brother's shaky hands. Cold and soaked to the bone, out in the middle of nowhere with the Impala sitting some twenty five feet underwater... Dean was surely going to bleed to death if hypothermia didn't get to him first.

"Sammy, I can't feel my hands." Dean started, taking a step forward only to collapse to his knees in the muddy water. He was shivering inside and out, his legs giving out under his own weight as his body slowly began to shut down, something he knew was coming all along. "I'm just so..."

"No, come on, we need to get out of the water..." Sam cut in, grabbing the other man by the arm and hoisting him up. "We need to get the Hell out of here..." He continued, half dragging and half walking the other man up onto the shore. As he carefully set his brother down on the grassy bank, he couldn't help but notice the bloody gashes that now circled his wrists; just one more thing that added to their dire situation. "I need you stay with me, ok?" He whispered, catching his eyes only long enough to know he was still conscious. Chilled to the bone himself, he darted back to the shoreline to grab his brother's prized leather jacket; hoping it would keep Dean warm just a little while longer, and praying that the other man's cell phone was in one of the pockets instead of in the car with his. His heart was racing as he sifted through the pockets, breathing a short sigh of relief when he found what he had been looking for. "Just hang in there, Dean." He said, draping the jacket over his brother before flipping the cell phone open and punching down Bobby's number.

Dean watched as his younger brother started to pace, the look on his face telling him all he really needed to know; Sam was beyond worried, there was nothing he could do to hide it from him. "Dude we don't even know where we are..." He said quietly, fighting to keep his focus as he clutched his well worn leather jacket for warmth.

"I think there's a road on the other side of that field we saw on the way in.." Sam was quick to reply, pausing in his steps as he pointed up to the top of slope. "I swear I saw one on the map and if anyone can find us, it'll be Bobby." He said as he started to pace again. When the other line finally picked up, he wasted no time getting straight to the point. "Bobby, we're in trouble." He bluntly stated, his voice echoing in the eerily silent night. "We're not sure where exactly we are, but we're just outside of Scythe, some little back road off the main strip that cuts through town... I need you to come pick us up."

"Sam, what's wrong? Everything OK?" The other man asked, hearing it in his voice the very moment he'd started talking. "I thought you two were just going out there to check up on some missing person cases that..."

"Bobby, there's no time to explain." Sam was quick to interrupt. "Dean's hurt pretty bad and I don't have a way of getting him help... I know it's almost three in the morning but I need you to come find us, you need to get us out of here. There's a bunch of..."

"Just calm down, Sam... you need to tell me where you are..."

"I don't know, some dirt road that led us right into the woods." Sam continued.

"I'm going to need more info than that son, do you remember the name of the road?"

"Bobby, I have no idea what it's called." Sam admitted, sucking in a breath as he felt a chill run down his spine. "But it's not the one that runs alongside the lake and it's not the one that takes you straight through town."

"Alright well I'll see what I can find on the area, maybe if we're lucky I'll be able to pin point your location using the coordinate from your phone... Just keep the phone on ya, I'll give you a call when I get close to Scythe."

"Whatever you do, don't talk to the Sheriff... he's the one behind all of this." Sam informed, his eyes once again settling on his older brother nearby. "And please hurry."

"Just hang in there kid, I'll be there as fast as I can." The veteran hunter replied, his voice bringing some confront to the men out in the middle of nowhere.

Sam swallowed hard as he flipped the cell phone shut and tucked it back into the pocket of his older brother's leather jacket. "C'mon Dean get up, we gotta keep moving... Those guys are going to come back for you, and I have no intention of being here when they show up to finish you off."

"Sam, I'm so tired, I can't even..."

"Yes you can and you're going to." Sam cut in, reaching down to help the other man to his feet. The last thing he needed right now, was for the other man to go into shock. "C'mon, get up."

Dean swore under his breath as Sam hoisted him up again, wrapping an arm around his waist just to keep him upright. He knew they needed to get out of there, but he was just so cold, weak and exhausted, he could barely support his own weight. With his younger brother's help and persistence, they started making their way back up the steep slope, back up to where he had been shot, and his brother forced into the trunk of the car. The uphill climb was a struggle, but it was the countless thoughts racing through their heads that made it that much harder. When they finally did reach the top and Sam paused to catch his breath, Dean couldn't help but take the moment to glance back down at the dark waters of the lake below. Just thinking of all the innocent lives that calm lake had swallowed whole, and how close Sam had come to being one of them, made his heart hit the bottom of his stomach all over again. In a way, he was happy not to have been conscious when the Impala was pushed down the steep slope, and he was happy not to have heard the thunderous splash she made as she plowed into the water.

"Hey, c'mon." Sam whispered, his voice pulling the other man away from his scattered thoughts as they continued walking towards the tall grassy field in front of them. Passing the post Dean had been tied to and over a stretch of fencing that had collapsed, the pair started making their way through the field; Sam's goal to find somewhere safe & warm to camp out till Bobby showed up, and Dean's goal to simply keep pace with the younger man that was dragging him along. When they emerged on the other side and their eyes focused on the old run down farmhouse standing not too far form them, both shared a sigh of relief. For Sam, it was refuge and for Dean, it was somewhere he could lay his weary head. "Looks like no one's home to me..." Sam remarked, eyeing the broken windows and boarded doors. "Let's see if we can get inside, place that old has got to have a fireplace we can use to get you warmed up till Bobby comes around."