A/N: The usual disclaimer – don't own Supernatural, own the idea. Kudos Kripke.
Shout out to all the people supporting this story – AyJay, dean-bean007, HirundoRustica and Shirlzstur for reviewing – I very much appreciate your feedback so THANKYOU SO MUCH! This one's for you guys…
The Deadwood Tree and Miracle Leaves of the Forgotten
Chapter Four
Dean fell back onto the worn out sofa in front of the small television set in their motel room. Sam grabbed a pen and paper and started scratching away with the pen, marking off various things, Dean appearing more frustrated by the second.
"Why the HELL is it that I always gotta ask the freaks who have to threaten my life in one way or another?" Dean asked, aiming the question to no-one in particular.
"Did Tiny really look life threatening?"
"To me he did!" Dean shifted uncomfortably on the couch, a pained expression clear on his face.
"Yeah, to your ass maybe…" Sam snickered.
"Exactly! Geez, what kind of town did we get ourselves into?? It feels like freak city!"
"That old lady was nice."
"Yeah, only I wasn't the one questioning her, you were!"
"What can I say? I'm just a charmer."
"In your dreams, prince charming."
"Okay, I've got it all laid out. They all pretty much went missing in or around the same place, all walking down the same stretch of road. One was coming home from getting her hair done, another was heading home from her job at the coffee shop, another was on a run with his dog, a woman coming home from the grocery store, Another man running, one either going to or from the pub, A husband making a trip to the bank either not getting there or not getting home and Tiny's boyfriend making a… uhh… trip to the adult shop. That's eight people ranging from 19 to about 50 years of age. All fairly random, what the hell do they have in common??"
"Better yet, where the hell do we go from here??"
"Guess we better check out that stretch of road, see if there aren't any signs of the demon."
The impala made a stop beside the side walk of the main road in the small town out in the middle of nowhere. As Dean killed the engine he took a good look up and down the street, not sure what to look for but keeping an eye out for anything looking suspicious. Sam stepped out of the car and made his way around to the back, popping the boot and grabbing out one of their EMFs. Dean paced the sidewalk.
No wonder this was a good spot to disappear in this town. On the opposite side of the road ran the woods of the reserve. On their side of the road towered a couple of buildings, the rest of the road was lined with small boutiques selling all odds and ends. Dean turned to Sam,
"Oi – You start down that end, I'll start down this end and we meet in the middle, 'kay?"
"Right."
They went their separate directions, keeping their eyes open for anything out of the ordinary, casting quick checking glances over the sidewalk, looking people up and down and peering into shop windows.
Sam reached the end of the road and turned around. He whipped out the EMF and switched it on, the EMF purring softly in his large hands. He swung his hand slowly from side to side, keeping part of his focus on the EMF in his hand, but also focusing on his surroundings. The first shop on the corner of the road was a deli, how cliché. He waved the EMF in the door of the deli receiving no signal. Sam moved on.
Dean reached his end of the road and made an about turn. He pulled out his homemade EMF and grinned at his own skill. He plugged the ear phones in and switched it on, it crackled in response. The first store he came across sold antiques. He made a quick observation of the store, waving his EMF around and receiving no signal, he quickly moved onto the next store. Antique shops, art stores, mirror retail stores – they all freaked him out in one way or another, remembering Bloody Mary and that little hell spawn in the painting wielding that barber's knife.
Sam kept his eyes on the ground, barely noticing the people walking around him going about their daily lives. People exchanged friendly hellos, others exchanged mere glances, and a lot of them conformed to the selection of people they had interviewed earlier. For a small town, there was certainly a whole lot of variety. Sam continued down the road, waving his EMF randomly around, earning a few hard stares from people. He stopped in the middle of the path, almost getting hit from behind by someone walking behind him. The person shot an ugly stare back at Sam and flipped him the finger. Sam shrugged the reaction off and knelt down slowly to get a better look at the side walk.
He ran a finger over a smouldering black mark, collecting residue on the tip of his finger. He brought it up to his face and sniffed it, sulfur. The mark of a demonic presence. At that point in time, a young man riding a skateboard whizzed past Sam, nearly knocking him face first into the pavement, screeching around the corner, long black marks trailing the pavement behind him. Sam got up again and inspected those tracks to compare with the ones he found. It was a different texture, burnt rubber for sure and not quite as concerning as the other mark he'd found. He had half a mind to say someone was stolen from that very spot. Just, who?
Dean was having just as much luck as Sam was, he came across some residue marking the base of a lamppost. He ran his finger through it much the same as Sam had done and brought it to his nose for inspection. Sulfur. It confirmed his worries.
Sam and Dean reconvened half an hour later, having come across another three more spots along the road that were marked by the same residue each. If anything was to be confirmed, it was that the town's street sweeper wasn't doing a very good job and they should consider sacking the slack bastard, but it was all Sam and Dean needed. There was one more thing they had to check with though, the dog one of the people that had gone missing was running with. They'd have to go back to that girl and ask a few more questions.
"Hi, can we talk a bit more about your boyfriend?"
"No." Came the simple answer as the door slammed in their faces.
"Well that just proves what a nice, sweet, homely girl the bitch is on the other side of this door." Dean stated matter of factly.
The door opened as fast as it had been slammed mere seconds ago.
"I aint a bitch! You're the bitch."
"No… my brother Sam's the bitch – Me on the other hand, well I don't like to brag but, I'm the nice brother, so if you say I'm a bitch to deal with, then think of what princess behind me is like." Dean leaned a little more forward so he could whisper out of earshot of Sam, "He's pissy when he's pms'ing."
"What do you wanna know? And could you hurry please??? I'm missing an ep of Gilmore Girls."
"You watch what now?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Oh yeah, well, I only watch for that Dean guy, he's hot… you know… you kinda remind me of him a bit." She cocked her head and gave Sam the once over, Dean cleared his throat rather loudly.
"We were wondering what happened to your boyfriend's dog??"
"Oh, he's here, he made it home at least, Robin didn't…"
"You mind if we borrow your dog for, oh, half an hour to check a few things over?"
"Uhhhhh… okaaaay…" She turned back into the house and preceded to yell at the top of her lungs, "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Sam and Dean exchanged a look as a huge pit-bull came bounding around a corner and for the girl. Fido pounced on the girl and licked her repeatedly. Dean scrunched his face up and muttered something about dog slobber. Fido looked up to Sam and Dean and snarled at them. The girl managed to pick herself up again and looked pointedly at the brothers.
"What a nice doggie you have there, can I pet 'im?" Dean slapped on a fake smile.
"If you want your hand bitten off that's fine by me."
Dean stepped back.
"Here, we'll be back soon with er… Fido." Sam stepped forward as the girl fixed a leash to Fido's collar and handed the handle to Sam. Sam grabbed hold of the leash just in time to be dragged from the front doorway and into the street. She laughed at their retreating backs.
Sam struggled keeping Fido in check while Dean walked a little behind, snickering behind Sam's back as they headed back to that stretch of road. As they rounded the corner Fido seemingly calmed down, which was impressive seeing how the dog had already tried to gnaw at Sam's ankles and run laps around the block. Sam aimed to walk down the road but was met with tension of the leash. He yanked at the leash, trying to get Fido to follow him, to no avail. Dean tsked and took the handle from Sam and try as he might, he couldn't get Fido to budge.
Dean had an idea. He reached into his pocket and dragged out a chocolate bar, attempting to bribe the dog down the road. It worked until about half way down the street. Fido turned to the woodsy reserve across the street, his ears flattening against his head and his tail slowly curling underneath. Fido whimpered. Sam and Dean looked at each other, thinking the same thing they made to take Fido across the road and closer to the reserve. They struggled and struggled until they got him to the other side as everything went completely silent.
No sounds were heard from the other side of the road, not from the people walking along in front of the stores, no music coming from the stores or bells as people entered. Everything went eerily silent which did nothing for the brothers except confirm the presence of the being that had interrupted a supernatural family reunion the other day. Fido yelped its tail quivering between his legs and its ears stuck flat to its skull. A growl formed deep in Fido's throat, growing louder and louder by the second. Sam and Dean focused their attention on the woods before them. Fido gave a long loud growl before yanking at Sam's grip on the leash and running for the safety of his home. A chill wind ripped across the road as time seemed to stall for a moment or two. The wind stopped dead as time and space seemed to stop. That same sinister snicker flickered across their senses and before either hunter knew, both collapsed.
TBC…
A/N: So… what do you think? Only way to let me know is by clicking that little button below and submitting a review… I'd fully appreciate it!
