Yo! This chapter has a lot more re-writes from the first time I posted, and I'm a lot happier with it now.
Thanks for all the reviews asking for more! I aim to please, so here's the next chapter…
Sam stands at the top of the stairwell to the basement. He pauses as he stares to the bolted door at the bottom. Something won't let him go down, a presence. His thoughts shift, and he turns, heading back into the living room. His body continues to move, action preceding thought. He walks up the stairs to the second floor and pauses as he reaches the top. Dean is in the room, second door on the right. Sam steps to the side of the door, presses his back against the wall, and waits. His breathing is slow, his mind isn't thinking, it's following.
Dean steps into the hall cautiously, as if expecting someone. He didn't expect Sam. Before he can get a word out, Sam punches him in the corner of the mouth. Blood wells and drips from the slit in the skin. Dean reacts quickly, striking Sam in the chest with both fists. Sam doesn't budge. He hits Dean harder, just above the eye. As Dean hits the floor, Sam snaps out of the trance that's been guiding him. He stares at Dean, who's lying unconscious at his feet, and runs his hands through his hair, assessing, registering, remembering.
"Shit." Sam lifts his Brother and hauls him down the stairs. He reaches the front door, but it's been re-boarded shut. He stands frozen, his heart pounding quicker and quicker, sounding up the back of his neck, and filling his head. The pounding becomes unnaturally, and unbearably loud. He slowly drops to his knees as Dean slides from his grip to the floor. Sam presses his hands to his head as pain shoots through his skull with each beat. Then it comes again, the same presence he felt in the basement stairwell, stronger, closer. He turns to find the man from his flash vision standing behind him.
Sam tries to speak, but a severe pain cuts through his body, causing the sound of hurt to come out his mouth, rather than words. He struggles with it, but as the pounding resonates in his skull, it all gets the better of him. His shoulders fall limp, his hands drop to his sides, and his head swings slightly back and to the side, pushing his eye line onto Dean, who lies unconscious at his side.
"I messed up," Sam whispers, the anguish in his voice not sourced from physical pain.
Then his body gives out. Sam falls over sideways and lands face first on his Brother, his head coming to rest on Dean's chest. He lies there, barely conscious, eyes open, the horrid pounding of his own heart still beating into him. Gradually, the sound drifts away, and is replaced by the soft beat of his Brother's heart against his ear. The sound calms him, and slowly, everything becomes blurred and comfortable. He lies quietly in darkness, unable to move, then something severs his calm.
"Sam!" It cuts into him. "Sam!" Pushes through his head and down his chest. "Wake up!" He moves his hand, but it doesn't move. He opens his eyes, but they don't open. "Don't do this Sam!" Sam wakes suddenly, his Brother's voice jerking him back.
"Dean." Sam's head flops groggily, confusion washing over him. He's not lying on the floor, or on Dean, as anticipated, he's strapped to the table.
"Sam!" Sam turns to see Dean shouting at him fiercely. "Stay awake!" The concern on Dean's face pisses him off.
"What are you looking at me like that?" Sam shouts. "Worry about that wall!" Dean, a bit taken aback, continues to kick.
"I've got this, but you need to stay awake," Dean demands firmly.
"I am awake!"
"You weren't awake! You were unconscious."
"I wasn't, I was upstairs."
"What?"
"I was in the entranceway."
"Sam, you were here. You haven't gone anywhere."
"But I thought…." His words trail off weakly.
"Sam just hang on." Dean kicks at the wall harder, less precision, more anger. Sam lies quietly for a bit, then starts to moan slightly. Dean tries to stay focused, no matter how distracting his Brother's pain, he can't stop work on dislodging the pipe.
"Dean…." Sam blurts breathily. "I don't feel right. I'm cold."
"It's the blood loss."
"No," he insists. "It's something else." Sam's mind begins to drift again. "I… I can see myself sinking into the dirt… it's black… moist. And my veins… I can see them… they're shifting… cutting inside my body… searching for blood."
At this statement, Dean turns sharply towards Sam, concern and panic getting the better of him. The quick movement, and shift of focus, causes him to slip from the pipe, and drop rapidly back into a dangling hang. He cries out sharply as the cuffs skin his wrists. With this, the door opens and the man enters...
Chapter 5 is on it's way soonish. Until then, Sam will just have to stay helplessly strapped to the big bad table, and hope that his big bad Brother can save his sorry ass… : )
