Sam sighed, walking through Lawrence, Kansas' cemetery. He stopped in front of a nondescript grave marker and crouched down, he glanced over his shoulder at Jess, standing a way off. He turns back to the grave, back to what is left of Dean.
Its a simple grave. It reads: DEAN WINCHESTER, A HERO IN HIS OWN RIGHT, JANUARY 24, 1979- APRIL 22, 2005. It has a small picture of Dean above it, in his dad's leather jacket with his cocky smirk. Sam's heart wrenches painfully
"I..uh..." Sam swallowed painfully, "I don't know what to say. You died, and I wasn't there. I don't even know how, or why." He swallowed again. "Dad won't tell me anything. No one will." He sighed again. "You died thinking I hated you..." he sighed a third time and placed a classic rock mix tape on the empty grave.
He closed his eyes and willed himself not to cry. The ground beneath him trembled and he looked down in shock. Dean's strong arm shot out of the grave, covered in dirt, and grabbed his wrist.
Sam jerked awake and looked around startled. Dean side eyed him and then looked back to the road, not bothering to ask. Ever since their last rest stop Dean had been quiet and contemplative. It unnerved Sam. Almost as much as the low volume rock songs the stereo was cranking out.
"You okay?" Jess asks from the back seat. She's spread out over the whole bench, painting her nails blood red. Sam wrinkles his nose at the stench of the nail polish and glances at Dean...Who doesn't seem to have noticed. Or he doesn't care. Sam's anxiety ratchets up a notch at that.
He glances back to see Jess staring at him expectantly.
"Yeah I'm fine." He grunts. The corner of Dean's mouth twitches.
"Another nightmare?" He'd been having them ever since he overheard Dean's phone calls. Sam grunts again. Dean side eyes him again and then clears his throat.
"You wanna drive for a while?" He asks. Sam gapes at him and then laughs slightly hysterically. "What?" Dean grumbles, eyeing Sam like he's insane
"Dean, you've never once asked me that in your whole life." Sam squints at him before agreeing to drive. Dean smirked and pulled over to the shoulder, getting out and stretching while Sam scooted into the driver's seat. Dean groaned as his back popped and then he walked around the car and got into the passenger seat.
They drive for 50 more miles before Dean turns to Jess. "Did you ever get a good look at the demon that was in your apartment?" Jess looked up from her book and frowned.
"What good would that do? Demons can just pick a new meat suit." Dean sighs and turns back around in his seat, looking out his window quietly. A few minutes later Jess speaks, "But I did get a good look at him before I sent him back to hell. He had yellow eyes, have you ever heard of-"
She was cut off as Sam slammed on the brakes and the boys turned to look at her in shock.
"What?" she asked, watching as the brothers looked at each other in horror.
"Jesus, Sam." Dean breathes.
"It's been 22 years. Why is he back now?"
"Who?" Jess asks pointedly.
"The demon that killed our mom." Sam says the Same time that Dean says "Azazel."
Dean realizes his mistake and winces as Sam and Jess stare at him in shock. "You know his name?" Sam asks. "Dad's been hunting this thing for ages. And he doesn't even know its name. Why do you?"
"Because I found him." Dean grunts. "Not dad, me."
"How are you still alive?" Sam asks as they drive on.
"Hmm? Oh he doesn't really care about me." Dean scratched his scruff absently. "I don't interest him."
"Didn't you exorcise him?"
"What's the point? When he's in Hell I can't kill him." Dean growled.
"You can't kill a demon." Jess says unhelpfully from the back seat.
"Oh, there are ways." Dean says darkly, staring into the tree line through the window.
XXX
"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote. It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, and dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." Sam says, eyeing the 3D diagram at the rangers station while Jess flips through brochures and Dean wanders off.
"Dude, check out the size of this fucking bear." Dean says, interrupting whatever logical nonsense he was sure Sam was spouting. Jess and Sam come up behind him to look at the picture of a dead grizzlies that had to be the size of a small elephant. Jess lets out a low whistle.
"And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." Sam says continuing on with his spiel.
"You boys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" the trio whirled around to see the ranger hiking up his pants and sipping a cup of joe at the Same time.
"Oh, no, sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Sam lies automatically. Dean and Jess share a quick look of surprise at Sam's quick save, and then turn back. Sam laughs awkwardly.
"Recycle, man." Dean says, raising a fist, his ring glinting in the artificial light.
"Bull shit." The man says, hand on his hip. Sam flicks a worried gaze to the back of Dean's head but Dean doesn't even look fazed. "You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" the man sighs walking over to his desk.
"Yes" Dean says after a seconds thought. "Yes, we are, Ranger…Wilkinson."
"Well I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?"
Dean pursed his lips and mouthed "No" while managing to look derisive and caring at the Same time. Jess raised her eyebrow at Sam who was frowning slightly at Dean.
"You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine." The ranger said, making his way back to the front doors
"We will. Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?"
"That is putting it mildly."
"Actually you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date." Dean and the ranger had a silent stare down before the man caved.
They leave the station with the permit and a smirking Dean.
"What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam snarks, opening the passenger door. Jess eyes the boys warily before sighing and sliding into the back.
"What do you mean?" Dean frowns.
"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Sam scowls back, wondering what Dean's deal is.
"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean raises and eyebrow and opens his car door. Sam scowls harder; they all know it's a wendigo. If only Dean felt like he could share the information that his supernatural pal gave him.
"What?" Sam grumbles when he realizes that Dean has been eyeing him clinically and detached, as if looking for the best way to dissect him.
"Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?" Dean mutters, ducking into the car.
"Since now." Sam snaps, thinking, Since apparently it's the fucking apocalypse!
XXX
The front door is opened mere seconds after "You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy." Dean says introducing the brothers. The impala honks from behind them and they turn to see Jess leaning out the window.
"Hey assholes! Imma go get dinner. What do you want?" she shouts. Dean laughs.
"That's Sam's fiancée Jess." He says to Haley before turning and shouting back. "Get some Tai, or something." Sam side eyes Dean before shrugging at Jess. Dean tosses her the car keys and she drives away. They turn back to see a hesitating Haley eyeing them.
"Lemme see some ID."
Dean pulls out a fake ID with the name 'Samuel Cole' and holds it up against the screen. Haley looks at it, then at Dean, who smiles. Haley opens the door and lets them in.
"Come on in. Nice car." She says as they follow her into the kitchen where her younger brother Ben is sitting at the table.
"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Sam asks, getting right to the point.
"He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now." She says, setting a bowl on the table.
"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception." Sam grumbles, a little bitchy. Dean smirks to himself.
"He's got a satellite phone, too." Haley sasses right back.
"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asks, trying to maintain an air of professionalism while internally laughing at Sam's bitchface number three.
"He wouldn't do that." Ben snapped angrily. Dean raised an eyebrow at him and Ben scowled and looked away.
"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me." Haley says like she has to exlain Ben's behavior. "We all keep pretty close tabs on each other." Dean nods; he knows the feeling. He'd kept tabs on his little brother while he was away at college. But its not like he was going to tell Same that.
"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asks. Haley agrees and they head to the living room where she's left her laptop. She and Sam settle down on the couch as she opens up the photos and Dean looks around, curious.
"That's Tommy." Haley sighed, opening his latest video.
"Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." Tommy's voice filters through the laptop speakers as Sam replays the video. Dean sighs, recognizing that look on Sam's face; he's seen something in the video that no one else did.
"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing." Dean says, shoving his hands in his pockets, nonchalantly.
"Then maybe I'll see you there." She says, standing, placing on hand on her hip and daring him to argue. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."
"I know how you feel." Dean says, relaxed and Sam side eyes him, wondering what the heck Dean's deal was.
XXX
Dean and Jess are devouring styrofoam take out containers of tai as Sam clacks away at his laptop at the local bar.
"So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." Sam says, casual as you please and Jess and Dean look up, noodles hanging out of their mouths. He flashes them bitchface number seven and opens up their dad's journal.
"Any before that?" Dean asks around a mouth full of take out. Sam wordlessly hands him a newspaper article and goes back to flipping through the journal. He's discreatly watching his brother the whole time, wondering about the subtle changes he's noticed there.
"1982, eight different people all vanished in the Same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack." Sam says, closing the diary and opening a new window on his laptop. "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936."
Jess and Dean share uneasy looks.
"Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." Sam says, pulling up the video and goes through three frames of the video one at a time. A shadow crosses the screen.
"Do it again." Dean demands, tai forgotten for now.
Sam repeats the frames.
"That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move." Sam says, like he hadn't overheard Cas tell Dean it was a wendigo. Jess looks at Dean, and Sam can tell that they're both wondering when Dean will tell them what was going on. Dean hit Sam with the back of his hand and smirked.
"Told you something weird was going on."
"Yeah." Sam says, disappointed, closing his laptop. "I got one more thing." He said handing over another newspaper article. "In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive."
"Is there a name?" Dean asks, reading the article and shoving more food into his black hole of a mouth.
XXX
"Look, ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—"
"Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Sam interrupts Mr. Shaw and Jess smacks his chest for being rude. Mr. Shaw takes a puff of his cigarette, takes it out, and nods.
"The other people that went missing that year, were those bear attacks too?" Jess asks. Mr Shaw stares at her as if debating about telling the truth. Sam sighs. He's strangely glad that Dean isn't here for this interview. Dean's been acting strange the whole day. Sam kept catching him staring of into space, deep in thought. And his smiles were strained and painted on. Sam didn't know who Dean thought he was fooling.
Jess didn't even know Dean and she could tell that something was wrong with the fool.
"What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Jess presses and Sam smiles, thinking about how similar Jess is to the old Dean. Mr. Shaw remains silent. Jess sighed and glanced at Sam in frustration before turning back to the old man.
"If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it." She pleads.
"I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make." Shaw grumbles, plunking down into a well-worn leather armchair and sighing heavily. "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did." Sam took it for the opening it was and dropped onto the couch across from the man.
"Mr. Shaw, what did you see?" He asks, leaning forward as Jess slides gracefully onto the couch.
"Nothing. It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like...no man or animal I ever heard." Shaw shuddered and Jess worried her bottom lip.
"It came at night?" Sam asks. He doesn't know why they're doing these interviews; they know what it is. If only Dean would be willing to share his intel. Shaw nods and Sam has to backtrack to think about what question he'd asked.
"It got inside your tent?"
"It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming." Sam feels a chill run down his back and he sees Jess shudder. Sam knows of a lot of monsters but not many of them could do that.
"It killed them?"
"Dragged them off into the night." Shaw grumbled, shaking his head.
"Why it left me alive...been asking myself that ever since." His voice was rough and worn. He paused and his hands shook slightly as he reached for the collar of his shirt. "Did leave me this, though." He said opening his collar to reveal three long scars. Claw marks. Jess and Sam look at them and then at each other. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon."
Sam highly doubts that. But at least he has enough that will help Dean tell them it's a wendigo like he worked it out on his own.
XXX
"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls." Dean says as they walk out towards the impala. He knows he should just tell Sam that it's a Wendigo but that will lead to all sorts of questions. Questions he doesn't want to happen until he has Cas by his side.
"So it's probably something else, something corporeal." Sam grumbles bitchily, side eyeing him again. Dean sighs in frustration, Sam's been trying to be discreet about his "Dean Watching" but since Cas rebuilt his body, Dean's senses are heightened.
"Corporeal? Excuse me, professor." Jess laughs from the other side of Sam and pushing the door open to the parking lot.
Dean smirks. He likes Jess. She's a good match for Sam, she'll take good care of him. She's smarts and sassy and funny and bad ass. Dean's never seen her in a fight but she's been subtly manipulating them into doing all the work on this hunt so far. So he has no doubt that she'd be strategic and smart about a fight. Not anger and pure fury, like himself.
"Shut up." Sam said affectionately. "So what do you think?" He turned back to Dean." Dean rolled his eyes.
"The claws, the speed that it moves...could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog, wendigo." He puts the idea there subtly to get the idea across. "Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it." He says, openings the trunk of the impala, then the weapons box, and props it open with a shotgun. He puts some guns in a duffel bag.
"We cannot let that Haley girl go out there." Sam grumbles, leaning one hip against the trunk. Jess crosses her arms over her chest and raises and eyebrow and Dean smirks; definitely good for his brother.
"Oh yeah? What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?" Dean quips sarcastically.
"Yeah." Sam says without a trace of saracasm. Dean meats his eyes and they both scowl identical scowls, daring the other to back down.
"Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not gonna just sit this out. Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend." Dean snapped, grabbing his duffle.
"Finding Dad's not enough?" Sam snapped, slaming the weapons box shut, then the trunk. "Now we gotta babysit too?"
"She's older than you, bitch." Dean laughs and throws the duffel bag at Sam, walking away. Sam stares after him.
"I like your brother. He's funny." Jess smirked, hauling the duffle onto her back.
"He's an ass." Sam grumbled.
"So death hasn't changed that then." Jess laughed joyously.
"He didn't die, Jess." Sam turns to her. "He just faked it. Something has to be after him. I jst need to find out what."
"So…what do you reckon his friend 'Cas' is? Demon? Shifter? Rugaru? Puka?" Jess asks, swaying her hips as she walks back towards the motel.
"Why do you think he's anything but human?" Sam asks, opening the door for her. She pauses and levels him with her bitchface number six.
"Dean asked him to check out this place and he had answers a minute later. That's some kind of freaky shit."
"Maybe he was in the vicinity."
"Vicinity." Jess mutters sarcastically and Sam rolls his eyes at her back. "Besides, Dean would never trust anything that wasn't human. He doesn't even trust humans."
XXX
A man that Dean immediately dislikes on principle, is talkings to Haley and Ben while checking a shotgun when the trio pull up in the impala.
"I'll tell you again, I don't think Ben should come." The man is growling as Dean slides out of the car.
"Roy—" Haley starts.
"Look, you're paying me good money to keep everybody safe. I think Ben's safest at home." The man snapped, interrupting her.
"You guys got room for three more?" Dean asks as Sam and Jess grab the duffle from the trunk.
"Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley frowns, turning fully to face him.
"Who are these guys?" Roy snaps. Dean frowns at the guys bad manners; he's met demons he's liked better than this guy.
"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Haley says, eyeing them like pests. Sam rolls his eyes and slings his bag over his shoulder and marches up the traill
"You're rangers?" Roy asks skeptically.
"That's right." Dean smiles politely.
"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley frowns. Dean looked down, shrugged and followed after Sam.
"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean laughs.
"I bet your ass would look fine in them though." Jess says, following them. Sam makes a disgusted noise and the blondes laugh uproariously.
DEAN heads past HALEY.
"What, you think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt." Roy snarls at their backs. Sam turned to face him, leveling bitchface number 27 at him. Jess and Dean share a smirk and look at the last three of the group.
"Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be. We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all." Dean says when it becomes clear that Sam isn't going to do more than glare. Dean trudges on past his brother, hitting him with his shoulder on the way up. Sam frowns at his back. Didn't Dean's friend say he was going to help them?
Demon or not he'd be a better help than this pissed of hunter, a sassy woman and a teenager full of unending angst.
Dean doesn't seem worried though.
Sam wonders what Dean's lie will be when his friend shows up. He sighs, taking Jess' hand as they march on. They hike through the day, Roy in the lead, then Dean and Jess, bickering about something or the other, Haley, Ben, and Sam bringing up the rear in silence.
"Roy, you said you did a little hunting." Dean says, loudly. Roy turns to look at him, disgusted.
"Yeah, more than a little." He snips, lip curling. Jess sniggers.
"Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?" Dean asks, pulling his arm in front of his chest and popping his shoulder.
"Mostly buck, sometimes bear." Roy stops to glare furiously at him. Dean smirks evilly, that cold glint returning to his eyes, as he passes him.
"Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Dean asks, stomping on. Roy reached out and grabbed a fistful of his jacket and pulled him back. Jess and Sam immediately reach for their stashed pistols. Dean is reminded of all the monsters that have ever gotten the drop on him.
"Whatcha doing, Roy?" He asks, voice dangerously low, even to himself. Haley and Ben look scared and it's not for him. The thought makes him feel a little sick. Roy says nothing, pushing him back and stabbing a stick into a bear trap Dean had almost stepped in. Haley looks annoyed while Ben looks relieved. Jess and Sam's hands drop from their hips like they hadn't been three seconds away from blasting Roy's brains out.
"You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger." Roy snarled, pushing past Dean and resuming his turn at line leader. Dean rolled his eyes and slung an arm around Jessica's shoulders. She punched him playfully in the side and they saunter on.
Haley jogs a little bit to catch up with them.
"You didn't pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a duffel bag. You're not rangers." She says accusingly. "And don't think I didn't notice these two reaching for their guns." She growls. Sam, Dean and Jess and share a look. "So who the hell are you?"
Ben passes the trio and Dean releases Jess, jerking with his chin for Sam and her to follow the kid. Dean and Haley watch them go for a moment.
"Sam and I are brothers, and we're looking for our father. He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and me, we're in the same boat."
"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?" She says in confusion.
"I'm telling you now. 'sides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman. ...ever. So we okay?" Dean says casually, though he's been mighty honest with Jess, he's still keeping an awful lot from her. And Sam.
"Yeah, okay." Haley sighes.
"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" he smiles pulling out giant bag of peanut M&Ms and shoves a handful into his mouth as he hikes on.
XXX
"This is it. Blackwater Ridge." For once Dean is grateful for the annoying man. They'd all been silent for hours, trudging on. Jess and Sam had been whispering sweet nothings to each other and everyone kept as far away from them as possible. As the day dragged on Dean had started sinking deeper and deeper into his own mind, getting lost in his own memories. That was never a good thing.
He was grateful for Roy's annoying self-righteousness that dragged him out of his PTSD.
"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asks, rubbing his eyes. Roy grumbles, pulling out his GPS which reads N 35o 45.383, W 111o 00.55.
"Thirty-five and minus one-eleven."
"You hear that?" Dean asks. They all pause. Roy, looks concerned, Haley and Ben look confused and annoyed. Jess and Sam trade uneasy glances.
"Yeah. Not even crickets." Jess whispers.
"I'm gonna go take a look around." Roy grumbles.
"You shouldn't go off by yourself." Sam calls after him
"That's sweet. Don't worry about me." Roy says patronizingly, pushing ahead of the group as Sam's lip curls. A half hour later they hear Roy calling for them. They run towards his voice and skid to a halt; they've found Tommy's campsite and its covered in blood.
"Oh my God." Haley whispers. The tents are torn open and bloody and all the supplies are scattered.
"Looks like a grizzly." Roy grumbles. Dean and the other hunters roll their eyes and scatter around the campsite looking for clues.
"The bodies were dragged from the campsite." Dean frowns to himself. Jess and Sam head over to look at the trails, the other three behind them. "But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird." As one the hunting trio look up.
"Ew." Jess whispers and the bloody leaves.
"I'll tell you what, that's no skinwalker or black dog." Sam grumbles. The civilian trio look confused. Sam waits for Dean to announce it's a wendigo but it doesn't come. He sighs as he watches Dean go off to comfort Haley.
"Help! Help!" the six of them freeze and turn towards the voice. Roy takes off and they all run after him, looking for the shouter.
"Help! Somebody!"
They find no one.
"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Haley asks after they stop, the six of them spread out over a twenty foot radius.
They listen.
It's dead silent.
"Everybody back to camp." Sam says suddenly, doing a 180 and darting back. Back at the campsite, all the supplies are missing.
"Dammit!" Sam curses, kicking the ruined tent and dropping into a crouch to examine the ground.
"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone." Roy growls.
"What the hell is going on?" Haley shrieks.
"It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help." Sam says, making eye-contact with Dean and Jess.
"You mean someone, some nutjob out there just stole all our gear?" Roy snarls. Sam approaches Dean who's furiously rooting through their dad's journal.
"All right, check that out." Dean says pointing to the figure drawn there. Sam frowns.
"What?" It's about damn time Dean told them it was a wendigo.
"I have no fucking clue. A friend told me what it could be but I didn't want to believe it. Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or...or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west." Sam sighs.
It makes so much sense. Of course Dean was confused. It never happens. He was double checking.
"Think about it, Dean, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice."
"Great." Dean sighs, taking out his pistol, Roy twitches reflexively. "Well then this is useless."
"The fuck is a wendigo?" Haley snaps.
"We gotta get these people to safety." Jess growls.
"All right, listen up, it's time to go. Things have gotten...more complicated." Sam sighs.
"What?" Haley growls.
"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Roy says patronizingly.
"It's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now." Sam growls back.
"One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders." Roy snarls, stepping into Sam's face.
"We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right? I'm trying to protect you." Sam shouted.
"You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night."
"Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here." Sam was shouting now and Jess blinked in shock as Roy laughed maniacally.
"You know you're crazy, right?"
"Yeah? You ever hunt a wendigo, Roy?" Sam snarled.
"The fuck is a wendigo?" Haley repeated. Dean hold up a finger to her and turns to Sam and Jess.
"Jess, firewood, Sam..."
"Protection detail, got it." Sam grunts as Dean shoves him away from Roy. He and Jess disappear into the woods.
"Will you just tell me what's going on?" Haley screeches.
"Just a moment. I want to make sure we're safe first." He says, watching Sam draw symbols in the dirt around the campsite.
"What are those?" Ben asks, pointing to the most recent drawing.
"Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them." Jess says from behind them, starting a large campfire. Roy's cynical laugh breaks through the silence and they all scowl at him.
"Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean sneers. Sam finishes the symbols and rolls a log over to the fire, cuddling up with Jess. Dean mimics vomiting and Jess giggles.
"So..." Haley says pointedly.
"Wendigos are supernatural creatures, monsters really."
"I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real." Haley says, frowning skeptically at them.
"I wish I could tell you different." Dean sighs, dropping onto the log besides his baby brother, watching as Roy rolled another log over for the others.
"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Ben asks, believing him immediatley. Roy and Haley are staring at them incredulously.
"We don't. But we're safe for now." Dean sighs, glancing at the symbols and shivering a little.
"How do you know about this stuff?" Haley asks, hunching closer to the fire, pulling Ben with her. Dean and Sam shared a look. Sam shrugged and Dean nodded.
"Kind of runs in the family." Haley frowns and Sam scrubs his face wearily.
"So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch." Sam says. "But we don't have any supplies."
"Well, hell, you know I'm in." Dean chuckles, getting up to search through the ransacked supplies. Sam picks up John's journal and flips through it to show the trio a few pages.
"'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'."
"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter." Dean's disembodied voice floats over from the bloody inside of one of the tents.
"How does a man turn into one of those things?" Haley whispers as Dean picks a couple things up off the ground.
"Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp." His head emerges from the window of a tent to look at them. Jess smiles into Sam's shoulder.
"Like the Donner Party." Dean smiles proudly at him before disappearing again.
"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality." Sam says drawing their attention back to himself.
"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry." Jess says.
"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asks desperately.
"You're not gonna like it." They all jump at finding Dean suddenly standing there.
"Tell me." She demands.
"More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there." He says, sliding onto the log and fiddling with a few things he found in the tent.
"And then how do we stop it?" Roy asks skeptically.
"Well, guns are useless, so are knives. So...basically—" Dean smiles, holding up a can of lighter fluid, a beer bottle, and a white cloth he'd picked up. "We gotta torch the sucker." Sam frowned slightly at the feral grin that overcame Jess' face.
Sometimes she and Dean were eerily similar.
"It's getting late." Jess says poking the logs in the fire with a stick. "This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves." They all frown, trying to get comfortable.
XXX
Jess was like Dean in a lot of ways, Sam had noticed. One of those ways was the need to comfort and protect others. People seemed to trust Jess more, though, probably because she was a woman and could be perceived as less threatening. Sam watched as she sat with Ben and Haley and told them embarrassing stories about him.
"Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?" Sam sighed, turning to face Dean who was whistling and whittling away at a large chunk of wood. Dean looked up, surprised, knife pausing in the middle of a large cut.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek." Sam grunted and scratched idly at his neck.
"Why are we even here?"
"This is why." Dean paused and tossed the journal at Sam. "That book. That is Dad's single most valuable possession—everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to you. I think he wants you to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business." Dean smirked sarcastically, slicing off a large piece of wood.
"That makes no sense. Why doesn't he just—call us? Why doesn't he—tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?" Sam scowls. And then Dean's double meaning hit him. "What do you mean, he passed it onto me?"
"Dad's…he's an asshole and a stupid one at that." Dean sighed, setting aside his carving and pulling his knees up to wrap his arms around. Sam gasped; he'd never heard Dean insult their dad before this week; it still shocked him. Dean hadn't even insulted John when Sam was skipping out on them. Dean rested his head on his knees and turned to look at Sam. "He doesn't know I'm trailing him. I've been searching for months. Kinda gave up. But then I realized that while he knew he was being followed, he thought it was you."
"So you thought you'd get me in on the search?" Sam frowned. He already knew everything Dean was telling him, the overheard phone call explained enough. But still.
"Nah." Dean smiles slightly. "I was in the neighborhood, wanted to drop by and harass you." Sam rolled his eyes, flicking through the book.
"Well consider me harassed." Sam laughed. He looked up to see Jess smiling softly at him. He smiled back and Dean let out a wistful sigh.
"To tell you the truth…Dad thinks I'm dead." Dean whispered into the fire. Sam's head jerked around so fast he was blinking spots from his vision. Was Dean finally going to tell him why he faked his death.
"Why?"
"Because…I died." Dean sighed. "I honest to God died, Sam." Sam swallowed loudly in horror.
"But…you're alive."
"Yeah well…" Dean shrugged slightly. "God isn't done with me yet. But I'm in a shit-load of trouble and I could really use dad's help. Despite his many faults he's still a damn good hunter. The trouble is…he thinks I'm dead. And I can't just show up out of nowhere; he'll think I'm a demon or a ghoul or something and he'll try to kill me. I've already died once this year. I don't want repeat performance."
"So you thought that if you brought me a long he'd know it was really you." Sam said, frowning. He knew Dean was still keeping things from him. Lucifer's rising for one. But at least Dean was opening up more. Dean smiled guiltily and picked up his discarded block of wood.
"Something like that. But don't worry. I'll handle dad. After this case I'm dropping you and Jess off back home and you're going to get a normal life." Dean squinted at whatever shape he saw in the wood and made a precise cut. "And for God's sake marry that girl already."
XXX
The wendigo made its first appearance a little over a half hour later. Twigs snapped, branches rustles and the six in the clearing stood alert and wary.
"Help me! Please!" A pleading voice interrupted the quiet of the forest. Dean cocked his gun, looking around cautiously. "Help!" Sam scowled, studying the forest with the flashlight.
"He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put." Jess said, patting Ben's shoulder comfortingly and swinging her flashlight around.
"Inside the magic circle?" Roy sneered.
"Hey Roy, you wanna go get eaten alive be my guest." Dean snarled.
"Help! Help me!" the plea sounded desperate followed by some ferocious growling. Roy sent Dean a withering scowl and pointed his gun at the source of the sound.
"That's no grizzly." He snarled.
Ben whimpered.
"It's okay. You'll be all right, I promise." Jess said, wrapping her arms around Haley and Ben. The bushes directly behind them rustled and the trio shrieked loudly.
"It's here." Sam whispered.
"Thanks for that Carol Anne." Dean side eyed Sam and was rewarded with bitchface number 12, we-don't-have-time-for-your-pop-culture-references-dean-theyre-stupid-anyways.
A gunshot rang though the clearing and heads whipped towards Roy who fired his gun a second time. This shot was rewarded with an enraged shriek and the sound of a body hitting the ground.
"I hit it!" Roy shrieked in triumph, running into the woods to see what he shot, even though they'd told him what it was.
"Roy, no! Roy!" Dean shouted after him. Roy's stupid ass disappeared into the woods and Dean swore. "Don't move." He snapped at the civilians and ran after Roy, Sam hot on his heels.
"It's over here! It's in the tree!" Roy's voice echoed from their left. When they reached where the sound seemed to have come from, there was no one there.