Sorry for the long delay and the shortness. It's been midterms for the last two weeks here and I have one due Monday as well. Not to mention a visit from my dad and my birthday in there as well. This chapter turned out a bit differently than I first planned it, but it works out better this way. I actually wrote this last night, very late into the early morning, and then decided that I hated it so much, but needed sleep and would come back to it today. Needless to say, sleep was not easy as I kept thinking of all the ways to make the chapter better. And here is the result. Once again thanks so much to Ridley for the use of the Brotherhood Universe and of course Kripke for creating such great characters and show. Thanks to all those who are reading and even great thanks to those who review. If you have a chance leave a little review, they're nice to read and fun to reply to. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy it!

Shea


Chapter 4

Running Home

Not too surprising was the fact that the drive had only taken a little over two hours, due in part to the fact that Caleb had driven to the woods where the dead bodies had been found. When they all excited Caleb's jeep, they all grabbed one of the guns and two flashlights. Caleb had made it clear that the flashlights were only to used if absolutely necessary since luck was on their side and it was a clear night with a nearly full moon. The air was crisp and was a bit cool, which was the usual weather for the time of year. Long sleeve over shirts with jackets did the trick easily to keep warm.

As they made their way into the woods, Caleb led with Sam, who was carrying the light back which contained the medkit and a few extra weapons and bullets just in case, following behind and then Dean with Kat bringing up the back. It seemed to be the safest order to go and for the most part they kept pretty quiet. What seemed to be and easy and quick hunt was soon turning into a very boring and dragging hunt. Not that they wanted to see trouble, but walking around in the woods could only be entertaining for so long.

Since Caleb was the oldest and therefore in charge of the hunt, he took it upon himself to start a conversation before they would all go insane from boredom, "So Kat, why don't you tell us more about how the traveling pants work their way around?"

Without any of them turning around, they could all sense an eye roll from Kat, "It's a book, Reaves. I know it's a hard thing for you to comprehend, but it's nothing more than that."

"If you ask me, I think traveling pants sounds much more exciting than some book," Dean commented as he turned around to catch an annoyed look on Kat's face.

"Dean," Sam began, "how would you even be able to compare something to a book when I can't even remember the last book you actually read?"

Caleb couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips, "Runts got ya there Deuce."

"I read the important things that will be useful to me later in life. They just don't teach those things in school," Dean replied proud of what his reading lists consisted of.

"I don't think care magazines and Playboys count as important information," Sam said to his older brother.

"Oh Sammy, Sammy, Sammy," Dean purposely used the nickname to try to get a little more under his brother's skin. "How much there is for you to still learn."

"I don't think he's the only one that has much more to learn," Kat added.

"Oh you'd be surprised Kitty Kat. I am very experienced for my age, especially when it comes to the opposite sex," Dean defended while raising his eyebrows suggestively and turning enough so Kat could catch the gesture.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kat directed the comment in Caleb's direction more so than Dean's.

"Dean just likes to imagine he does. Reality is that the two girls he was dating at the same time in his class found out about each other and then told all the other girls about it. So I think he's hurt that he's been black listed and now is stuck to imagining that he's some Greek God," Sam said with a smile on his face.

Dean shrugged and then looked towards Caleb, "A little help here, Damien."

"You dug yourself this hole, Deuce. It's up to you to get out of it," Caleb responded without turning around to keep his eyes out just in case their prey decided to come out. "Besides I told you to do a better job to not let the girls find out about each other and to stop bragging about the other adventure."

"God, men are such pigs," Kat exclaimed. "I really hope you two don't corrupt Sam."

"It's not corrupting. It's a way of life and it's passing down important knowledge to the younger ones. It's a guy thing," Caleb said out of defense.

Sam was about to defend that it was not possible for all of the male race to be like Caleb and Dean when everyone heard movement in the forest. The four hunters were instantly focused on the impending threat and were alert as they carefully raised their guns in the direction of the sound. With the sound coming from ahead of them, Dean stepped in front of Sam and pushed him back so that he was now in front of Sam. Caleb was focused in the direction ahead of him and quickly angled his stance when he heard something to the right of him. Kat had heard another sound from behind and instantly turned her back to the other hunters to try to see the source of the noise.

While Caleb was focused on the sound to his right, Dean saw a huge mass of muscle and fur come towards Caleb ready to pounce. The elder hunter sensed the beast, but not quick enough to get a shot off. He looked up as he saw the powerful creature about to lunge at him and go in for the kill. The pain never came as he heard the sound of two gunshots and heard the thump of the body hitting the ground. When he had the chance he looked back towards Dean who was still holding the gun aimed at where the beast just was.

"Getting a little rusty in your old age there, Damien," Dean playfully said with a smirk on his face at having just saved his friends life.

A chorus of growls were heard around the group as Caleb responded, "You may have gotten the first one but it seems as though it had friends. Good to know you got my nice ass though, Deuce. We're still no where near even from all the times I've saved your scrawny ass."

"Uh…guys. Maybe it would be best to continue that later," Sam said causing the other two hunters to follow his gaze around.

They were being circled by two dogs who did not look happy or friendly. Shooting them would have been easy if it wasn't for their speed. That made it smarter to wait for them to make the first move. The animals were quite large and obviously powerful. What was supposed to be a simple one dog type of hunt had turned a little more dangerous, but overall the hunters were sure they could take two more, especially since there were four of them.

"What the hell happened to there only being one, Reaves," Kat questioned with annoyance obvious.

Caleb didn't get a chance to respond as both dogs leaped for an attack. One went for Dean while the other went for Sam. Kat quickly got a shot off at the one that went for Sam, but only hit it in the shoulder region which caused a pain filled sound to erupt from the beast. Dean instinctively ducked from the dog coming in his direction as Caleb shot the beast 3 times causing it to whimper in pain before falling to the ground. Seeing that the other dog was only injured caused Dean to rush to Sam to protect him. Caleb saw Kat about to shoot it when he saw an even larger black shape appear behind her. Paying attention to the threat on his brother, Dean quickly took care of what he thought was the last remaining dog.

"Kat," Caleb shouted but not in enough time.

Right as the words left Caleb's mouth, Kat went flying through the air and two shots were fired from her gun caused by the attempt to get what had thrown her. Dean and Sam both looked over as they saw Kat flying through the air and heard a pain filled scream from Kat and a hiss of pain from Caleb as his gun fell to the forest floor. There was pain coursing through Caleb's right arm which was what caused him to drop his gun. Being distracted by the pain he didn't notice that the dog was now focusing it's attention on him. As he tried to put some distance between himself and the animal he fell over an exposed root and landing with a thud on the ground. Thinking quickly, Dean grabbed Sam's gun and emptied all the bullets straight into the heart of the very large wendigo black dog mix. The beast dropped dead. Sensing that the threat was over as they were now surrounded by four dead bodies of the mixed creatures, Dean relaxed a little.

"You okay, Sammy," Dean questioned his brother as he checked him over for injuries.

"Yeah. Fine, not a scratch," Sam responded not caring as much about the dreaded nickname. "You?"

Dean grinned, "You know me, I'm always alright."

Sam couldn't help but roll his eyes and smile back at his brother, "You say that even when you're bleeding to death."

"Not a scratch on me this time," Dean responded. He heard a string of curses coming from Caleb, "How bout we go check on Damien."

Caleb was letting lose a string of pain filled curses that would make a sailor blush as he was sitting on the ground leaning back against the tree. His right arm was held protective across his stomach and his eyes were closed to try to numb the pain that was shooting through his arm at the moment.

"What's the damage Damien? Hurt your pride too much since I got three of them while you only got one," Dean playfully jested but at the same time was still worried about his friend.

Caleb sighed and said with a bit more annoyance than intended, "No! Someone decided it would be fun to use me as target practice."

"It's not like I meant to," Kat's voice was heard a few feet away.

"Kat, you okay," Dean questioned as he was still looking at Caleb's right shoulder and upper arm where he could see too holes with blood running out of them.

"Let me get back to you on that," even from a few feet away the somewhat panicked tone in Kat's voice could be heard.

"Go check on her, Deuce. Both went straight out so you won't have to do any digging in there," Caleb said as he brushed Dean's hands away from the wounds and inspected the damage for himself. "Sammy and I will catch up to."

Dean nodded as he began to walk in the direction that Kat had been thrown. Caleb let Sam help him back up to his feet by using his left arm. Feeling that there were two holes in the back of his shoulder and upper arm was some of the best feeling he'd ever had. As twisted as it was, it was much better than even thinking about anyone having to be prodding around and digging the bullets out.

"Let me guess," Caleb said looking down at Sam as they walked a few feet behind Dean, "you and Deuce both got away with out a single scratch?"

"Yeah. Thanks to you and Kat. I guess we can count that as some Winchester luck," Sam gave a smile at the older hunter.

Caleb gave a little laugh, "No, that is the very opposite of Winchester luck, Runt. If it was Winchester luck, I don't think either of you would be alive right now. It's good that I don't have to clean you two up for once though. Nice break."

"That's what you think," Sam responded. "You know full well that you'll never hear the end of Dean bragging that he took three down while you only took one down. There's no telling what size his head is going to get to now."

"That's Deuce for ya. Shouldn't last too long though, he just got lucky for once."

Dean saw Kat against a nearby tree and had to look a little farther up than usually to see her face. Because of the branches the light wasn't the greatest where she was. It was odd that Dean had to look up at her and the fact that she wasn't moving towards them made Dean about panicked. Remembering her yell and slight panic in her voice earlier didn't help matters either.

"Kat, did you grow," Dean asked nervously hoping that she was just playing a joke on him.

"I wish! Could someone please get me down now," Kat sighed and held up her hands briefly to show her frustration of being stuck there even longer.

Caleb caught the conversation and questioned, "Down from where?"

Dean walked closer to Kat and had to hold back the gasp of shock at what he saw, which frightened him even more now, "Oh this is so not good."

What Dean said caused Caleb to go into protective mode, "What is it Deuce? You bleedin' or something?"

Dean couldn't help but shake his head at Caleb's sudden change that he though Dean was injured, "Damien, unlike you two, I know how to come away from a hunt with this perfect body completely intact." Dean gestured towards Kat with his hands causing both Caleb and Sam's eyes to follow and grow wide in shock.

Whatever retort Caleb was going to give to Dean died on his tongue as he saw Kat a few inches off the ground with a pointed broken off branch sticking through her left side, "Oh, Jim is gonna kill us!"

Kat couldn't believe what came out of his mouth, "That's what you're worried about? How about getting me down?"

They all knew how dangerous it was to remove an object that had been embedded in someone. It was usually more dangerous as it would cause the person to bleed out without anything there to keep a gaping hole from letting more blood spill out much quicker. At the same time, they would have no other choice as it would be impossible to let Kat stay as she was. It was not going to be easy once she off and with the way his right arm basically useless, he wasn't sure just how well he would be able take charge. He knew that most of the rescuing was going to rely on Dean and Sam at this point and he was very glad that they were as good as they were at this.

"This hunt sucks," Caleb said as he looked at Kat to try to judge how to get her off only using his left arm.

Kat gave a weak laugh and smile, "You're telling me."

"You know," Caleb began. "this is going to hurt a hell of a lot."

Kat nodded, "Just do it and get it over with."

They could all see that she was in pain, so Caleb nodded and began instructing Dean and Sam on how to do this. "Okay Dean, you and I are going to get her off of that and Sam you get the medkit ready and out. We're going to have to stop the bleeding as much and as soon as possible."

Dean and Sam nodded as Sam shrugged the back pack off and began to open it. Dean and Caleb went to either side of Kat. Caleb quickly, yet carefully around the right arm, took his jacket off ready to use it to stop the blood flow. Dean was going to do most of the work and Caleb was going to use as much as he could with one good arm. They each nodded and took a sympathetic look at Kat apologizing for what they were about to do and on her nod they began to slide her off of the branch. As much as Kat tried, she couldn't keep the pain filled scream from escaping which was one of shear pain, as she was being eased away from the tree.

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