***Third person POV***
In a cemetery in Palo Alto California, Sam is wearing a suit and tie and carrying a bouquet of various flowers excluding roses.
He sighs and stops next to a gravestone. It reads "JESSICA LEE MOORE", "Beloved Daughter", "January 24th 1984 – November 2nd 2005". There is a small picture of a grinning Jess set into the stone above her name. There's also a black-and-white picture of her leaning against the stone between a white teddy bear and a wooden box with a crucifix leaning on the picture, and a small American flag next to the box.
Sam looks between the gravestone and the flowers.
"I uh..." He laughs nervously. "You always said roses were, were lame, so I brought you, uh..."
Sam looks at the picture set into the gravestone, then looks away, choking back tears. He steps closer to the gravestone.
"Jess...oh God..." He kneels to set down the flowers. "I should have protected you. I should have told you the truth." Sam leans the flowers in front of the crucifix. An arm covered in dirt shoots out of the ground and grabs him by the wrist.
IMPALA
Sam jerks awake in the Impala. He is riding shotgun next to Dean. Foreigner's "Hot-Blooded" is playing, and Bri is sprawled out on the back seat with headphones on her ears. She's sleeping and must have dozed off listening to her iPod.
Sam blinks and rubs his eyes. Dean looks over, concerned. "You okay?"
Sam glances over and away. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Dean nods although Sam knows he's not convinced. "Another nightmare?"
Sam clears his throat awkwardly.
"You wanna drive for a while?" Dean offers.
Sam laughs in disbelief, "Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that."
"Just thought you might want to. Never mind." Dean dismisses Sam defensively.
"Look, man, you're worried about me." Sam sighs. "I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay."
"Mm-hm." Dean hums.
"Sure ya are, Bean Stalk."
Sam turns his head and Dean peeks in the rear view mirror to see Bri putting her iPod away and sitting up.
"Sleeping Beauty finally awakens." Dean teases her.
"Does that make you my Prince Charming, Winchester?" Bri tilts her head and asks. "Cause if you are I think I wanna go back to sleep."
Sam chuckles and grabs a map. "All right, where are we?"
"We are just outside of Grand Junction." Dean informs him.
"Colorado... That's always nice." Bri sarcastically muses.
"I hear Colorado's cold. It's perfect for the ice queen's frozen heart." Dean glances at Bri in the mirror. She sticks her tongue out at him.
Sam rolls his eyes and folds down the map, which is of Colorado and has a large red X labeled 35-111. "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon.
"Sam," Dean sighs. "We dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica—"
"We gotta find Dad first." Sam interrupts his brother.
"Sam, John disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence." Bri points out as she leans forward and rests a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder.
"Bri's right, Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do." Dean assures Sam.
"It's weird, man. These coordinates he left us." Sam says. "This Blackwater Ridge."
"What's so weird about it?" Bri asks.
"There's nothing there. It's just woods" Sam puts down the map. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"
They drive past the National Forest sign that says, "Welcome to LOST CREEK COLORADO National Forest".
RANGER STATION
The Impala is parked next to a sign that says "RANGER STATION Lost Creek Trail, Lost Creek National Forest".
"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." Sam looks at a 3D map of the national forest, paying particular attention to the ridge labeled "BLACKWATER RIDGE". Dean and Bri look at the decorations.
"It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." Sam observes.
Dean, however, isn't really paying attention. "Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear."
Sam looks over as Bri hits Dean on the back of the head. Dean rubs the spot Bri hit and then looks back at a framed photo of a man standing behind a much larger bear. Sam comes to stand next to Dean and Bri.
"And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." Sam tells him.
A forest ranger, walks up behind them; when he speaks, Dean, Bri, and Sam whip around, startled.
"You kids aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" He asks gruffly.
"No,sir, we're–uh– environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Bri stammers.
Sam laughs a little, nervously, Bri's eyes flit around the room, and Dean grins and raises a fist.
"Recycle, man."
The ranger's eyes narrow, "Bull," he accuses.
Both Sam and Bri's eyes flick to Dean, who doesn't move.
"You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" The ranger asks.
Dean considers this. "Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger—" Dean checks the ranger's name tag, "Wilkinson."
"She's like our sis!" Bri adds with a wide, nervous smile.
"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?" The ranger asks.
Dean shakes his head.
"You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine." The ranger tells the three young adults.
"We will. Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Dean asks the ranger.
"That is putting it mildly." Wilkinson agrees.
"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 lies.
Wilkinson eyes Dean, who in turn raises his eyebrows.
Xxxxxx
Dean, Bri, and Sam leave the ranger station. Dean is holding a piece of paper and laughing.
"It's like he's cruising for a hook-up or something." Sam murmurs to Bri.
"It's Dean we're talking about, Sammy. When's he not looking for a quick lay?" Bri reminds Sam, who nods in agreement.
"What do you mean?" Deans brow furrows in confusion.
"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 asks his older brother.
Dean and Bri stop on one side of the Impala (Dean at the drivers door and Bri in the back.) while Sam stops at the other.
"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean says to an obviously annoyed Sam.
There's a pregnant pause. Dean gives Sam an odd look.
"What?" Sam asks.
"Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?" Dean asks with narrowed eyes.
Sam doesn't hesitate even a moment. "Since now."
Sam climbs into the passenger seat.
"Really?" Dean scoffs lightly to himself.
"Play nice, Pretty Boy." Bri playfully warns the older Winchester.
Dean smirks. "In your dreams, Cherry Pie."
"You wish you were in my dreams." Bri opens the door the the back door, gets in the car, and shuts it.
Dean chuckles, his mood slightly lifted and follows Bri and Sam's suit climbing into Baby.
HALEYS HOUSE
Dean, Bri and Sam are standing at the door to a house. The door opens to reveal a young woman.
Dean greets her, "You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam, and Bridgette. 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."
Haley hesitates. "Lemme see some ID."
Dean pulls out a fake ID and holds it up against the screen. Haley looks at it, then at Dean who smiles. Haley opens the door. "Come on in."
"Thanks." Bri grins warmly.
The door swings open; Haley catches sight of the Impala.
"That yours?" She asks Dean.
"Yeah." Dean smirks flirtatiously.
Sam is looking back at the Impala, and Bri rolls her eyes.
"Nice car." Haley compliments Dean.
She turns to lead Dean, Bri, and Sam into the kitchen, where A young man is sitting at the table on a laptop. Dean turns his head to mouth something to Sam, and Bri who both roll their eyes.
HALEYS KITCHEN
"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Sam asks Haley.
She comes back into the room with a bowl she places on the table. "He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now."
"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception." Bri suggests.
"He's got a satellite phone, too." Haley tells her. Suddenly a cell phone starts to ring.
"Speaking of phones..." Bri pulls out her phone and checks the caller ID. "Would you excuse me?"
"Of course." Haley says. Bri smiles and walks out of the room.
"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean continues to questions the Collins siblings.
"He wouldn't do that." Ben speaks up.
Dean eyes him. Ben looks away. Haley puts more food on the table.
"Our parents are gone." She explains. "It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."
"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asks Haley gently.
"Yeah." She agrees.
On a laptop, Haley pulls up pictures. "That's Tommy."
Haley clicks twice and another picture comes up, then the still frame opening the latest video.
Tommy begins to speak. "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."
Sam spots the shadow flicking past.
"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing." Dean assures Haley.
"Then maybe I'll see you there. 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." She tells the Winchesters confidently.
"I think I know how you feel." Dean says sympathetically.
"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asks.
"Sure." Haley agrees.
LOCAL BAR
Someone breaks a game of pool. A waitress goes past carrying beer. Sam, Bri, and Dean sit down at a table.
Dean looks to Bri. "So what was that call earlier about?"
"Oh, it was Dustin again." Bri tells him.
"What'd the douche want this time?" Dean asks gruffly.
"Same old, same old. 'He didn't mean it' and 'he's so sorry about everything'." Bri rolls her eyes.
"You don't buy that bull crap do you?" Dean asks, concerned.
"Of course not." Bri assures him. "Never again."
"Good." Sam says. "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." He opens John's journal.
"Any before that?" Dean questions.
Sam pulls out newspaper articles to show Dean and Bri.
"Yeah," He says, "in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack."
Sam pulls out his laptop. "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936."
He opens the laptop, which already has a window open to Tommy's video.
"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 pulls up the video and goes through three frames of the video one at a time. A shadow crosses the screen.
"Do it again." Dean requests.
Sam repeats the frames. "That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move."
"And that ladies and gents is my nerdy best friend, Sammy Winchester." Bri murmurs while patting Sam's shoulder.
Dean hits Sam, who in turn looks up.
"Told you something weird was going on." Dean brags.
"Yeah." Sam closes his laptop. "I got one more thing."
"And it keeps comin'." Bri says, impressed.
Sam hands over another newspaper article.
"In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive." He explains.
Dean and Bri look at the paper.
"Is there a name?" Dean asks.
SHAW HOUSE
An old man, Mr. Shaw, talks to Sam, Bri, and Dean while leading them inside his house. Shaw has a cigarette in his mouth.
"Look, ranger," He says, "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—"
Sam interrupts, "Grizzly? That's what attacked them?"
Shaw takes a puff of his cigarette, takes it out, and nods.
"The other people that went missing that year, what about those people, huh?" Dean asks.
"Them too?" Bri adds.
There's a pause.
"What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Dean presses. "If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it."
"I seriously doubt that." Shaw dismisses them. "Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make." He sits down. "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did."
Sam sits down across from Shaw. "Mr. Shaw, what did you see?"
Shaw pauses, debating on whether or not to tell them. "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."
"It came at night?" Sam asks
Shaw nods.
"And it got inside your tent?" Bri asks.
"It got inside our cabin." Shaw corrects her. "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."
"It killed them?" Sam asks Shaw gently.
"Dragged them off into the night." Shaw shakes his head. "Why it left me alive... been asking myself that ever since."
There's a pause. Shaw's hands go to his collar. "Did leave me this, though."
He opens his collar to reveal three long scars. Claw marks. Sam, Dean, and Bri take a close look at them.
"There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon." Shaw tells the three young hunters.
LATER THAT NIGHT MOTEL
Dean, Bri and Sam walk the length of a corridor with rooms on either side.
"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors." Dean reasons. "If they want inside, they just go through the walls."
Bri nods in agreement.
"So it's probably something else, something corporeal." Sam thinks aloud.
"Corporeal? Excuse me, professor." Dean teases Sam. Bri rolls her eyes.
"Shut up." Sam retorts. "So what do you guys think?"
"The claws, the speed that it moves...could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog." Dean suggests. "Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it."
PARKING LOT – NIGHTTIME
Dean opens the trunk of the Impala, then the weapons box, and props it open with a shotgun. He puts some guns in a duffel bag. Sam leans in, and Bri stands to the side of the impala, arms crossed.
"We cannot let that Haley girl go out there." Sam says.
"Agreed." Bri nods.
"Oh yeah?" Dean asks incredulously. "What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?"
"Yeah." Sam nods.
Dean looks at him like he's grown two heads. "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."
"You make it sound like the things gonna cuddle us instead of rip us limb from limb." Bri mutter, but quiets down from the duel glares she receives.
Dean picks up the duffel.
"Finding Dad's not enough?" Sam asks him. He slams the weapons box shut, then the trunk. "Now we gotta babysit too?"
Dean stares at Sam
"What?" Sam asks him.
"Nothing." Dean dismisses him. He throws the duffel bag at Sam and walks off. Sam stares after him and then looks at Bri.
She shrugs. "It's Dean, Gigantor, whatcha gonna do?" Then after a sympathetic smile, she turns and follows the older Winchester.
FOREST— DAYTIME
A man, Roy, talks to Haley, and BEN while checking a shotgun. They're all carrying full backpacks.
"I'll tell you again," Roy says to Haley. "I don't think Ben should come."
"Roy—" She protests.
"Look," Roy cuts her off, "you're paying me good money to keep everybody safe. I think Ben's safest at home."
Suddenly, the Impala pulls up. Roy, Haley, and Ben stare. Haley shakes her head. Sam, Bri, and Dean get out of the car. Bri is holding a duffel bag but tosses it to Sam, who catches it with a grunt.
"You guys got room for three more?" Dean asks.
"Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley asks, with narrowed eyes.
"Who are these chuckleheads?" Roy asks suspiciously, staring down the hunters.
"Apparently," Haley answers him, " this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue."
Sam heads past everyone.
"You're rangers?" Roy asks skeptically.
"That's right." Dean nods.
"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley turns to Bri, "And you, jeans and a leather jacket, really?"
Dean and Bri both look down at themselves then at each other.
"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean tells Haley. Dean heads past Haley.
"I'm a naturally cold person..." Bri tells her and then go to Dean and bumps his shoulder playfully.
"What, you think this is funny?" Roy calls after the trio. "It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt."
Sam turns back.
"Believe me," Dean tells Roy, "I know how dangerous it can be. We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all."
Dean heads past both Sam and Bri.
A PLACE SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS
A mine shaft lets in light. Tom and Gary are hanging by their wrists from the ceiling. There are assorted corpses with them. There's a growling sound. Gary spots a tall skinny shape and starts yelling. Tommy does his best to turn away and closes his eyes tightly as Gary yells in what is most likely excruciating pain.
FOREST
The group hikes through the forest, Roy is in the lead, then Dean, Haley, Ben, and Sam and Bri bringing up the rear.
"Roy, you said you did a little hunting." Dean says to Roy.
"Yeah, more than a little." Roy tells him.
"Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?" Dean's voice is full of mirth.
"Mostly buck, sometimes bear." Roy tells him, not catching on to the tone in his voice.
Dean passes Roy. "Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?"
Instead of answering Roy grabs Dean and holds in back.
"Whatcha doing, Roy?" Dean asks.
Roy grabs a stick and pokes the bear trap Dean had almost stepped in. Haley looks annoyed, while Bri is thoroughly amused.
"You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger." Roy tells Dean sarcastically.
Roy drops the stick and retakes the lead.
"It's a bear trap." Dean announces to nobody in particular.
They hike on. Haley catches up to Dean.
"You didn't pack any provisions." She tells him. "You people are carrying a duffel bag. You're not rangers." She grabs Dean's arm.
"So who the hell are you?"
Ben goes past Haley and Dean. Sam and Bri look at Dean, who indicates with his expression that they're to go on by; Sam obeys, but Bri doesn't. Dean sighs toward Bri and they both watch Sam 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."
"Who's she then?" Haley eyes Bri skeptically.
"Bridgette, Dean and Sammy are my best friends. I'm helping 'em out." Bridgette speaks up when Dean fails to think of a plausible lie.
Haley seems to buy it. "Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?"
"We're telling you now. 'sides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman—" Dean stops talking when he's sees a look of hurt on Bri's face. He gives her a look in return that says, 'I don't mean that, I'm just saying it'. Seeing the slight nod of her head, he continues. "Anyways, we good?"
There's a pause and then Haley nods. "Yeah, okay."
"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean pulls out a big bag of peanut M&Ms. Bri's face lights up as she puts her hand in the bag and pops a handful into her mouth. And Dean also sticks his hand in the bag. As they hike on they alternate between putting their hands in the bag and taking M&Ms. Haley waits a moment, then follows them.
LATER IN THE FOREST
Roy leads the way, followed by Sam, Ben, Haley, and Bri and Dean.
"This is it. Blackwater Ridge." Roy announces to everyone.
Sam heads past Roy. "What coordinates are we at?"
Roy pulls out a GPS. "Thirty-five and minus one-eleven."
Dean and Bri come up to Sam. They listen.
"You hear that?" Dean asks.
"Dead silent..." Bri mumbles.
"Yeah. Not even crickets." Sam adds.
"I'm gonna go take a look around." Roy says.
"You shouldn't go off by yourself." Sam warns him.
"That's sweet." Roy's voice is dripping with sarcasm. "Don't worry about me."
Roy waves his gun and pushes through Dean, Bri and Sam to retake the lead. Dean turns back to the others as Ben and Haley catch up.
"All right, everybody stays together. Let's go." Dean commands.
CAMPSITE– DAYTIME
Sam, Bri, Dean, Ben, and Haley are looking around near a large rock.
"Haley!" They hear Roy call. "Over here!"
Haley runs towards Roy's voice, followed closely by the others. They come to a halt.
"Oh my God." Haley whispers.
There are tents that are torn open and bloody and all the supplies are scattered.
"Looks like a grizzly." Roy says.
Dean and Haley look around.
"Tommy?" Haley takes off her backpack and goes through the campsite. "Tommy!"
Sam and Bri move to catch up with Haley.
"Shh." Sam shushes her.
But, she doesn't listen, "Tommy!"
"Shh-hh-hh!" Bri shushes her even louder.
"Why?" Haley asks with wide, confused eyes.
"Something might still be out there." Sam informs her.
"Bri! Sam!" Dean calls the two other hunters over.
They go over to Dean, Sam snapping a stick, and crouch next to him.
"The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird." Dean tells them and they stand up. "I'll tell you what, that's no skinwalker or black dog."
They head back to the campsite. Haley picks up Tommy's cell phone; it's bloody. She cries. She turns the phone over and the back is open.
Dean crouches next to her. "Hey, he could still be alive."
Haley gives Dean a Look.
Suddenly they hear a panicked voice, "Help! Help!"
Roy leads the way as everyone runs to the aid of the shouter.
"Help! Somebody!"
They find no one.
"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Asks Haley, baffled.
They listen, again.
"Everybody back to camp." Sam says urgently.
"Now!" Bri adds, knowing the danger of the unknown voice.
Back at the campsite, all the supplies are missing.
"Our packs!" Haley exclaims.
"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone." Roy grumbles.
"What the hell is going on?" Haley demands.
"It's smart." Sam says and Bri nods in agreement. "It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help."
"You mean someone," Roy asks at hearing Sam call the thing an 'it', "some nutjob out there just stole all our gear."
Sam goes to Dean and Bri.
"I need to speak with you two. In private."
Sam, Bri, and Dean head a little ways away from the group.
"Good. Let me see Dad's journal." Sam says to Dean.
"Sammy, I get all tingly inside when you make orders like that." Bri fake swoons.
Dean snorts as he hands it over. Sam rolls his eyes as he opens it and flips through until he finds a particular page.
"All right, check that out." Sam points to a First Nations–style drawing of a figure.
"Oh come on," Dean exclaims, "wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west."
"He's got a point, Stretch..." Bri shrugs.
"Think about it, guys, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice." Sam explains slowly.
"Great." Dean takes out his pistol. "Well then this is useless."
"And so are these." Bri takes two knifes out of her belt loop.
Sam gives Dean back John's journal and heads past him and Bri, stopping for a moment. "We gotta get these people to safety."
Back at the campsite, Sam addresses the group. "All right, listen up, it's time to go. Things have gotten...more complicated."
"What?" Haley asks, distraught about her brother.
"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Roy assures Sam cockily.
"It's not me I'm worried about." Sam tells them. "If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now."
"One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders." Roy tells him.
"Relax." Dean tells Roy.
"We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right? I'm trying to protect you." Sam tries to make Roy see sense.
Roy steps right into Sam's space. "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's is beginning to lose patience, which is a rare occurrence.
Roy laughs. "You know you're crazy, right?"
"Yeah? You ever hunt a wen—" Sam begins to say before Dean pushes him.
"Roy!" Haley berates Roy.
"Chill out." Dean says.
"Stop. Stop it. Everybody just stop." Haley exclaims. "Look. Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him."
A long pause.
"It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night." Dean tells everyone. "We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."
"How?" Haley asks.
CAMPSITE– NIGHTTIME
The group has built a campfire, and Dean is drawing something in the dirt around the campsite while Haley pokes at the fire and Bri and Sam have a hushed conversation; most likely about the wendigo.
"One more time, that's—" Haley says to Dean, referring to the symbol he drew in the dirt.
"Anasazi symbols." Dean tells her. "It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them."
Roy laughs, gun over his shoulder.
"Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean tells him.
Dean heads over to sit next to Sam and Bri who are at the edge of the campsite.
"You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours, Sammy?" Dean asks his brother.
"Dean—" Sam sighs.
"No, you're not fine." Dean objects. "You're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"
"Don't we know that?" Bri mumbles, earning a ghost of a smirk from Dean.
A pause.
"Dad's not here." Sam say to his brother. "I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?"
"Yeah, you're probably right." Dean agrees. "Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek."
"Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?" Sam asks Dean
"This is why." Dean comes around to Sam's front and holds up John's journal. "This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession—everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business."
"Whoo, that was deep, Pretty Boy... 'Saving people. Hunting things. The family business.' That should be our motto!" Bri thinks aloud.
Sam snorts and shakes his head. "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?"
"I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it." Dean tells Sam.
"Dean...no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about." Sam confesses.
"Okay, all right, Sam, we'll find them, I promise." Dean swears. "Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man."
Sam looks down, then up.
"How do you do it? How does Dad do it? Bri? You? You got out too, and now you're right back in and you take it in stride!" Sam says, exasperated.
Dean and Bri look at each other then look over at Haley and Ben.
"Well for one, them."
Sam looks over at Haley and Ben.
"I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable."
A pause.
"I'll tell you what else helps." Dean says.
Sam looks back at Dean and Bri.
"Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." He says with a smirk.
"That always helps." Bri smirks too. "But for me I think it's more of avenging the people who died or got hurt, or who's lives got screwed with by these assholes. Take back part of their dignity for them."
Sam smiles, and chuckles. A twig snaps. And their heads snap up.
Someone, presumably the wendigo, yells,
"Help me! Please!"
Dean stands and readies his gun. Bri does the same and pulls out her knife.
"Help!"
Sam shines a flashlight about.
"He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put." Dean advises everyone.
"Inside the magic circle?" Roy's voice is dripping with sarcasm.
"Help! Help me!" The wendigo tries one last time. When nobody falls for the trick it gets mad and begins to growl.
Roy points his gun at the sound. "Okay, that's no grizzly."
Haley talks to Ben. "It's okay. You'll be all right, I promise." Something rushes past her and she shrieks.
"It's here." Sam announces.
Roy shoots at the rustling, then again. "I hit it!" He goes off to see what he hit.
"God damnit, Roy!" Bri immediately chases after him.
"Roy! Bri!" Dean yells. "Shit!" He turns to Haley and Ben.
"Don't move."
Haley's holding a stick, burning at one end, as a weapon. Dean and Sam run after Roy and Bri.
"It's over here! It's in the tree!" They hear Roy yell.
The boys get there in time to see Bri reach Roy just as the wendigo reaches down from the tree and grabs Roy.
"Roy!" Dean shouts. Then the wendigo's arms suddenly reach down and grab Bri by the neck. The shock causes her to drop her knife on the ground as it pulls her up.
"Bri!" Dean and Sam yell at the same time.
"Oh god." Sam mutters and shines the flashlight around.
WENDIGOS LAIR
Bri awakens to a throbbing pain in her neck and a numb feeling in her arms. "Ughhh"
"Are you okay?" A quiet, hoarse voice asks.
Bri's pale green eyes snap open. She sees a young man around her age, also suspended by his arms. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. What about you?"
"I'm terrified." He admits shakily. "I was taken in the middle of the night from my tent by a- a beast. And I- I can't feel my arms and I keep going in and out of consciousness. Who are you?"
"My name is Bridgette Callagan. Are you Tommy?" Bri asks hopefully.
"Yeah, Tommy Collins. How did you know?" Tommy asks, confused and dazed from the multiple cuts on his head.
"Thank goodness! You're brother and sister... My partners and I have been looking for you with them." Bri tells Tommy.
"Partners?" Tommy asks. "Are you a cop or something?"
Bri smirks, "Or something..." She turns her gaze past Tommy and sees a mangled, suspended body. "Oh, that's just gross!"
"Yeah," Tommy gets a distant look in his eyes. "That's- or it was Gary. My friend."
"I'm really sorry..." Bri frowns. "I know what it's like to see something like that happen to someone close to you."
Tommy barks a wry laugh. "You mean mauled by a beast?"
"Something along those lines..." Bri smirks.
Tommy gives her a weak smile. "You're funny... Pretty too. I can tell I'm gonna like dying here with you."
"Hey! You're not gonna die!" Bri tells him forcefully. "My partners will find us and save us. You are gonna go home with your family and live a long healthy life, Tommy."
"I'm glad one of us thinks so, Bridgette." He tells her before going back into the black world of unconsciousness.
FOREST – DAYTIME
Sam is sitting against a hollow tree stump, holding John's journal and playing with a lanyard attached to it. Dean is pacing, running his hand through his short hair, and Haley and Ben are among the tents.
"I don't...I mean," Haley stutters. "These types of things, they aren't supposed to be real."
"I wish I could tell you different." Dean stops pacing and tells her. "But I can't. My best friend and your brother were kidnapped by it."
"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Haley asks nervously.
"We don't." Dean tells her bluntly. "But we're safe for now."
"How do you know about this stuff?" She asks.
There's a pause while Dean considers how to answer. "Kind of runs in the family."
Sam comes over. "Hey." Haley stands up. "So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch."
"Well, hell, you know I'm in. It took Bri and it's time for it to pay." Dean agrees.
Sam shows the wendigo page of John's journal to Haley and Ben.
"'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'." He tells them.
"They're hundreds of years old." Dean adds. "Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter."
"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley's brow furrows.
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."
Ben cringes. "Like the Donner Party."
"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities." He rattles off a few. "Speed, strength, immortality."
"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry." Dean tells them.
"So if that's true, how can Tommy and Bridgette still be alive?" Haley asks the boys.
"You're not gonna like it." Dean tells her. "Hell, I hate it."
Dean glances at Sam, then back to Haley.
"Tell me." She presses.
"More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food." He explains, fear creeping into his stomach for Bree. "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 and Bri are alive, it's keeping them somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there."
"And then how do we stop it?" Haley asks, eager to get her brother back.
"Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically—" Dean holds up the can of lighter fluid, the beer bottle, and the white cloth he'd picked up. "We gotta torch the sucker."
WENDIGOS LAIR
"Favorite band?" Tommy asks Bri weakly.
She had suggested playing twenty questions once Tommy had came out of his unconsciousness to try and keep him awake.
She smiles, "Warrant, hands down."
"Song?"
At this question she has to think hard. "Umm, a tie between 'Mr. Rainmaker' and 'I Saw Red'."
Tommy lets out a weak laugh. "Those two couldn't be more different ya know? One's about finding the perfect girl and the others about catching your girl cheating on you."
"Wow, a Warrant fan, huh?" Bri smiles.
"What can I say?" Tommy smirks. " I've heard a song or two."
All of a sudden they hear growling again. "Tommy! Pretend you're passed out!" Bri looks over to see that Tommy doesn't have to pretend... He's already passed out cold... Probably from the fear of the wendigo. She sighs worriedly and assumes 'passed out' position.
FOREST
Dean leads the way through the woods, Molotov cocktail in hand. Haley follows, then Ben, then Sam. They pass trees with claw marks and blood.
LATER
Sam is leading the group now. "Dean."
Dean catches up. "What is it?
Sam and Dean look around at the trees. There are bloody claw marks and broken branches everywhere.
"You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow." Sam points out.
Sensing it's plan was once again ruined the wendigo begins to growl. Sam and Dean whip around. The trees begin o rustle.
Haley is standing under a tree. Blood drips on her shirt. She notices and looks up, then leaps out of the way; Roy's corpse lands where she'd stood.
Deab examines Roy as Sam goes over to Haley. "You okay? You got it?"
"His neck's broke." Dean announces.
Sam helps Haley up. There's more menacing growling.
"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Dean yell
Everybody takes off.
Ben falls and Sam hurries back to help him up, dividing the group two and two.
"Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha." Sam says to him.
Up ahead, Dean and Haley stop short: the wendigo is in front of them. Haley screams.
"Haley?" Ben calls out.
Sam stops running and picks up Dean's Molotov cocktail, the bottle broken. "Dean!"
FOREST-DAYTIME
"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben asks Sam.
"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off." Sam says point blank.
Ben finds a trail of peanut M&Ms and picks one up. "They went this way."
Sam catches up to Ben, who hands over the M&M. Sam laughs. "It's better than breadcrumbs."
He tosses the M&M away.
Sam and Ben follow the trail. They come to a mine entrance marked with a sign that says WARNING! DANGER! DO NOT ENTER EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIAL. Sam looks at Ben, shrugs, and goes inside. Ben follows. Above the entrance is a larger sign that says KEEP OUT NO ADMITTANCE.
WENDIGOS LAIR
Sam shines the flashlight ahead of them. They hear the wendigo growling. Sam shuts off the light and pulls Ben against the wall. The wendigo comes towards them. Sam covers Ben's mouth before he can scream. The wendigo takes a different tunnel at the crossing. Sam and Ben keep going. The floorboards creak and Ben and Sam fall through the floor; they land in a pile of bones. There is another pile nearby of skulls. Ben spots them and leaps backward.
"Hey, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Sam assures him.
Sam and Ben look up; Dean and Haley are hanging by their wrists from the ceiling. Sam runs to Dean and, Ben to Haley.
"Dean!" Sam calls at the same time Ben calls, "Haley, wake up!"
Sam grabs Dean and shakes him. "Dean!"
Dean opens his eyes.
"Hey, you okay?"
Dean winces. "Yeah."
"Haley, Haley, wake up, wake up!" Ben begs his unconscious sister.
Sam cuts Dean down and Ben takes care of Haley. They help them over to an empty patch of floor and get them sat down. Dean makes pained noises.
"You sure you're all right?"
Dean grimaces. "Yeah. Yep. Where is he?"
"He's gone for now." Sam assures him.
Haley divests herself of rope. She stands up and spots Tommy and Bri still hanging and starts crying.
"Tommy..."
"Bri!" Dean and Sam exclaim.
At hearing her name, Bri's head pops up. "Finally, you guys. Took you long enough." She grimaces. "I think it took a taste test..."
Her jacket is half off of her and there's a bite taken out of her left shoulder. Sam cuts her down.
She frowns, "Wait, where's Tommy?" She turns to see him, looking dead. "Oh, God no..."
Haley touches Tommy's cheek. His head jerks up. Haley jumps back and shrieks. She turns to Sam.
"Cut him down!" She demands.
"Now!" Bri adds.
Sam quickly cuts Tommy down as Bri fixes her jacket trying to inflict as least pain as possible.
"We're gonna get you home." Haley murmurs Tommy.
The stolen supplies are piled in the corner. Dean picks up three flare guns.
"Check it out." He says.
"Flare guns. Those'll work." Sam says.
Sam grins. Dean laughs and twirls the guns. He hands one to Sam and one to Bri. "You good to shoot with that chunk outta your shoulder, Cherry Pie?"
Bri looks to a frail Tommy, down at her shoulder and then back to Dean. "This bitch is going down.
They head down a tunnel, Dean, Bri and Sam in the lead with the flare guns and Haley and Ben supporting Tommy, who is limping.
The wendigo starts to growl again.
"Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean quips.
"And we're the main course..." Bri adds.
"We'll never outrun it." Haley says.
Dean looks back at the others. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah, I think so." Sam tells him.
Bri smirks, "Do me proud, Pretty Boy."
Dean turns to the Collins siblings. "All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam and Bri. They're gonna get you out of here.
"What are you gonna do?" Haley asked worriedly.
Dean winks and starts walking and yelling. "Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste good."
Sam and Bri wait until Dean is a safe distance away.
"All right, come on! Hurry!" Sam tells them.
The Collins' follow Sam and Bri down the tunnel.
Xxxxxx
"Hey, you want some white meat, bitch! I'm right here!" Dean's still yelling to the wendigo.
Xxxx
Sam, Bri, Haley, Ben, and Tom hurry down a tunnel.
The wendigo begins to growl once again. Both Sam and Bri point their guns at it, Sam then lowers the gun and turns to the Collins'.
"Get him outta here." He says about Tommy.
"Sam, no." Haley protests.
Still aiming at the wendigo Bri says, "Hey! I was in there with him a full day, it wasn't good! Now I'm bleeding out, he needs help and I, for one, wanna kill this bitch! Now go!"
"Come on, Haley!" Ben urges his sister.
Haley and Ben help Tommy along the mine tunnel.
Sam and Bri hold the flare guns ready to shoot, looking down the tunnel.
"Come on. Come on." Sam mutters.
Sam growling turns and the monster is now right in their faces. Sam shoots and misses, then they both run after the Collins'.
"Sam! Bri!" Haley calls to them as they catch up.
"Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry." Sam urges them.
They run to the end of the tunnel, the wendigo right behind them.
"Get behind us." Sam tells them.
Sam and Bri are large enough together to hide all three Collins'.
The wendigo approaches, taking its time.
Dean comes up behind the wendigo.
"Hey!" He calls to it.
The wendigo turns. Dean shoots it in the stomach. The flare goes off and the wendigo goes up in flames.
"Not bad, huh?" Dean asks the other two hunters.
Sam grins and Bri replies with. "Not at all... But 'Chow time, you freaky bastard?'"
Dean smirks, "It worked though, didn't it?"
"Yep, Winchester, it sure did..." Bri laughs.
RANGER STATION – NIGHTTIME (AMBULANCE)
The ambulance loads up a shirtless and bandaged Tommy on the gurney and stitches up Bri's shoulder.
"Is it okay if I talk Tommy for a minute." She asks the female EMT that's tending to her wound.
"Sure sweetie, not too long though, he need to get to the hospital for further examination." She smiles.
Bri smiles and thanks her before climbing further into the ambulance to Tommy.
"Hey there!" She greets him with a smile.
"Bridgette," he gives her a lazy, pain killer induced, grin back, "there's my savior!"
"Funny," Bri smirks. "And to think you were such a non-believer."
"Well, it was such a monstrous grizzly I didn't think we stood a chance." He tells her, having been told about their cover story. "I still don't remember or understand half of it."
Bri brushes a stray strand of hair from his face. "That's probably best, considering it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows."
Tommy laughs, "I guess not."
They spend a couple of seconds just looking at each other before, in the heat of the moment, Bri leans down and plants a lingering kiss on Tommy's mouth.
"What was that?" Tommy asks, surprised but smiling.
"You're a cool guy Tommy, and there's a real shortage of them now a days." She smiles and leans down again, this time to press a quick kiss to his cheek. "Stay that way."
"I'll try.." He mumbles.
Bri looks at him for a few moments before giving him one last smile and leaving the ambulance, stopping at the other two Collins on her way to Sam and Dean. She hugs each sibling.
"Thanks, Bri." Haley says while hugging her.
"Thanks so much." Ben says.
She smiles and continues walking to the Winchesters as Haley and Ben climb in the ambulance with a smiling Tommy.
Sam sits on the Impala's hood with Dean, Bri walks over and stands next to them.
"Close her up." One EMT says.
A third EMT closes the ambulance doors.
"Man, I hate camping." Dean muses.
"Me too." Sam agrees.
"It was never that awful for me... But now I'm totally with you on this one." Bri adds.
The ambulance drives off.
Dean turns to Sam. "Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?"
"Yeah, I know." Sam smirks. "But in the meantime? I'm driving"
Bri starts to laugh and Dean soon joins.
He tosses Sam the keys.
Sam and Dean get in the car, slamming the doors almost in sync.
Bri is still chuckling. "My boys..."
She too gets in the Impala.
Sam speeds off
