Chapter four is here! Thank you for any continued support or to anyone who takes the time to read this. I genuinely appreciate it :D
Dean woke with a start as an object slapped onto the covers of his bed. Sam smiled at his brother's shocked expression and gave a cheery,
"Morning." Dean looked at his alarm clock that he always switched off and realised it had only just turned six'o-clock.
He then turned his gaze on to his younger yet freakishly taller brother. He was wearing a grey sports t-shirt and orange shorts. His neck was glistening with sweat.
"Are you frigging kidding me man? How long have you been up?" Dean asked in disbelief, his tone heavy with a mixture of grogginess and flecks of anger. Sam shrugged, indicating it didn't matter and quietly suggested Dean should look at the newspaper he had thrown onto his bed. "What the hell?" Dean looked at the front cover and his expertly trained eyes picked out the key words of the report that made his hunter senses begin to tingle.
"Yep. Sounds right up our street, doesn't it?" Sam confirmed as he poured them both some coffee from the mini kettle he had left brewing whilst he went out for his early, short morning jog.
"Picnickers Last Picnic. Apparently twenty vics were mauled to death by an animal. But the rangers don't know what could have possibly inflicted such horrific injuries as there have never been any reports of attacks on such a large scale as this one before. Sounds like something is up." Dean pondered the article for a while and began to automatically change into his FED or as he liked to call it monkey suit. Sam murmured in agreement but then he also raised a possible alternative,
"On the other hand it could have been a bear. I mean they were in Wirely woods and grizzly bears are indigenous to this part of Wyoming." Dean shook his head and said,
"Alright geography professor. Never mind what it could be. Something is definitely up. If everything has been quiet for a long time and then suddenly. Boom! A couple dozen picnickers are massacred. Most likely thing it could be is a Wendigo or Vamps. Scrap werewolves as nothing in the report mentions anything about missing hearts, although we can check that out for ourselves. Hurry up and get dressed Sam. We need to look 'presentable'." Dean gulped his coffee down as Sam just stared past his brother, allowing his commanding tone to wash over him, however he obliged and changed into his own suit.
Arriving outside the mortuary Sam and Dean flashed their fake identification badges quickly at the receptionist as they were then led through by the male pathologist to examine the victims' bodies. After thoroughly investigating each body Sam and Dean drew the same conclusion that they were definitely not werewolf related injuries as all of the victims' hearts had remained intact and untouched. The scratches on their bodies had been long and deep and there were no evident fang marks. So it was unlikely that it could have been a vampire nest attack either.
Outside the laboratory room Sam and Dean met with the local police officer, who was working on the case.
"I have to say in all my years I have never seen such a violent attack. In Wirely woods of all places. Sure some parts are incredibly foggy, but the picnic area has always been so peaceful. This case has shook the whole force up." Sam smiled lightly,
"I can imagine. Could you possibly tell us if you have any leads?" The police officer breathed heavily,
"Well. We found some traces of fur and some sort of claw marks in the ground. Paw prints were evident but that dang fog has made the ground wet so they are bound to be gone now. Or at least we won't be able to identify them. Not that we had time to do so anyway. Our main priority was to remove the victims from the incident area." Dean said seriously,
"In other words you have bupkis." The elderly police officer frowned at Dean, clearly offended by his informal comment. Sam laughed nervously and said,
"Please excuse my partner. It has been a long day and the life of an FBI agent can become incredibly tedious and frustrating. I am certain you and your officers have been doing everything in your power to solve this case. Thank you for your time." The police officer smiled at Sam and tipped his hat before walking off, his rotund belly wobbling from side to side.
As Sam and Dean drove to the edge of Wirely woods Dean kept complaining about how the police force were inefficient and that you could never rely on them. Sam switched off and was mentally preparing himself for what they might encounter.
The police officer had been certain of one thing and that was the directions to the area where the incident had taken place. The sectioned off area was unmanned so Sam and Dean immediately began searching for clues that could lead them to what creature they were dealing with. Dean found some locks of wiry hair and was feeling it with his fingers trying to identify what it belonged to.
Meanwhile Sam had noticed some blood on the ground, which he assumed most likely belonged to one of the victims. However, his ever sharp eyes also noticed how some stains of the blood seemed to suggest that one of the victims had been dragged at some stage of the attack. There were no missing people's reports so all of the bodies had been recovered. Unless of course the victim had no relatives that lived locally. Perhaps the creature had tried to take one of the victims back to its nest? Or as Annie had mentioned there were lots of caves in these particular woods.
Sam was about to join Dean, who was still examining the patch of wiry hair he had discovered when something silver caught his eye. Bending down Sam scooped it up and realised it was a bullet covered in blood.
"Dean."
"What is it Sammy?"
"Whatever this creature is I think one of the vics managed to shoot it before it killed them all." Dean walked over to his younger sibling and looked at the blood stained bullet that he held between his large fingers. Tentatively Dean felt the smudge of blood. It was beginning to dry.
"Damn it. Looks like we will be hunting this thing the old-fashioned way. We will need to track it down."
Sam could not deny the fact that he was impressed with his brother's hunting skills. Even though he had no knowledge of science he had been wise enough to use the blood to determine if the creature was within close proximity to them or not.
They both started to head into the deeper part of the woods and they were both grateful that the fog seemed to have lifted for the time being. Their spirits were high as every now and again they would come across tell tell signs that the creature had travelled through a certain area. A lock of hair here and some claw marks in the thick mossy, ground there. However, their high spirits began to dwindle as the sun slowly began to set. Their stomachs began to growl ravenously and their feet cried from the assault of blisters that both brothers could feel were forming. Dean began to complain relentlessly, until Sam finally snapped,
"You know what Dean. This would be a whole lot easier if we had a hunting dog. We could have let it sniff the hair you found and then it would have been able to track it down."
"Whatever Sam. We are not getting a hunting dog."
"Why the hell not Dean? Don't you see how it would improve our lives?" Sam's voice began to creep higher as his agitation began to consume him.
"No Sam I don't. All I see is how it will create a mess. Shred and ruin my baby and how it will drive a wedge between us."
"You make no sense! How will having a dog cause a wedge between us?" Sam was about to continue, but stopped as Dean raised his hand to signal him to shut the hell up. His gaze was transfixed on a large bush that was rustling.
Emerging from the undergrowth a shaggy, grizzly bear padded out and locked its coal coloured eyes onto the two hunters. It gave a few low rumbling roars. Sam could not help, but grin and say to Dean smugly,
"Told you it was a bear Dean." Dean rolled his eyes remembering his brother spouting facts earlier.
"Shut up Sam."
The bear stood on its hind legs and roared viciously and the brothers grabbed their rifles from their duffel bags in unison. Sure they looked out of place in their monkey suits, but this was a life or death matter. The bear began to charge towards them, a lumbering tower of pure muscle and brute strength.
Sam and Dean both froze.
They had been up against demons, vengeful spirits you name it, but never before had they been in a situation like this one. All of their courage left them and they felt like they couldn't act.
'Move you idiots!'.
Sam and Dean exchanged petrified looks and they both began to run. Even though they knew it was futile and the grizzly bear would easily catch up.
Without warning, Sam's foot got caught in a large, exposed oak root and he was sent crashing to the soft ground. Groaning Sam managed to turn round just in time to see the bear closing in on him.
"Sammy!" Dean yelled at the top of his lungs.
He felt like he was going to be sick knowing his baby brother was about to be ripped apart by this monster of a bear and there was no time or way of intervening.
Suddenly, a much smaller shape in comparison to the grizzly bear bounded out of the bushes and snarled. Pouncing into the air it latched onto the bear's face and began to rip at it with its razor sharp claws.
Dean seized his opportunity and hurtled forward helping Sam up. And with his veins pumping with adrenaline he practically dragged his brother away from the immediate danger. The brothers concealed themselves behind a tree. All they could hear were the sound of snapping jaws and ferocious snarls and growls. The ripping of flesh and the crunching of bone could also be heard. Making them shudder occasionally. Dean and Sam huddled closer together, panting heavily. They had no clue what had rescued them, but they knew they were nowhere near out of the woods yet.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to review any positive or criticisms are accepted.