Chapter Four.
Okay, have fun guys. This one is a bit shorter, but I think that's okay with how it ended... Maybe I'll add more. Be sure to review guys, so I know what you think and what I should do make it to your liking.
Read, review, enjoy.
Disclaimer.
Songs: Fly by Night - Rush
Movies: The Breakfast Club; Anger Management
I'd found it practically impossible to sleep last night. After Dean and Sam told me that they hadn't found Roy, I'd mentally shut down, convinced that I had been the reason he died. I just lied there, all night, staring at the fire, no matter how many times Dean or Sam tried to talk to me. I know it was stupid that I thought Roy died because I wanted him to, I mean, obviously I was aware that it was a wendigo that probably killed him and not some stupid thought from me. I was wide awake, still, watching as the fire died to a low smoky ash and the blue black sky full of stars faded to a morning gray that mocked my sour mood. I thought I'd heard signs of the wendigo all night long but who knows if that was real or not… I could have just been just imagining things… I probably was imagining things. It was officially day and everyone else was moving around and active. They'd slept in tents, and although I did think that the nylon would be a sure fire protective element between me and the crazy ass monster, I couldn't move off the leaf covered ground. Dean came over and tapped the sole of my foot with his boot. He could kick all he wanted, I didn't want to move. I was just gonna lay here until they were done with the hunt. I was a horrible person for wishing that on Roy, and I didn't want to do this any more.
"Becs, get up."
"Go away."
"Get up."
"Go. Away."
I felt him kick my shoe once again... and again... and now even harder. I wouldn't get up, no, actually I couldn't get up. I just wanted to lay here and die. Well, not actually die. I just wanted to sulk in the anger I had grown for myself from wishing someone dead. I had wished a lot of people dead in my life time... believe me when I say the number is actually right up there. It's actually surprising considering my lovable demeanor and accepting personality; but I had wished people dead, including my brothers and a few times even my father, but no one had actually ever possibly died afterwards. I felt Dean's shadow create a small shift of coolness over my face as he sat down on the ground beside me. God, he wouldn't quit. Couldn't he see I was lying here, hating myself? Was I not allowed to be a girl for like, two days with the emotions, and thoughts, and crazy? Apparently not. Leave it to him to not allow anyone a moment of self despise.
"Are you going to get up?" he sighed.
"Dean, I wanted him to die," I choked from where I kept staring at the stones that circled the fire pit. Was this lump from anger or sadness? I couldn't even tell anymore! That's how upset and confused I was right now.
I heard him groan. Yep, he just sat down and started a bonding moment that he couldn't have occur while being silent with a simple hand squeeze. He was gonna have to talk to me and he knew it. I'd told him to go away, and he pushed. Now he was going to have to deal with it. "We don't even know if he's dead."
"We don't know that he's alive either," I grumbled as I sat up and faced him while staring at my shoes.
"Becca, come on. Quit this. Let's get a move on, kill this son of a bitch, and get out of here. If Roy's dead it's because he was dumb enough to go running after that thing when we told him to stay inside the circle," Dean was standing up now and glaring down at me.
I allowed him to help me up and looked at him with low eyes. He was right. I was being stupid and I needed to move past it. No dwelling. Closing my eyes, I pushed every one of those horrible thoughts from my mind. Goosfraba. Goosfraba. There. That was better. I just reminded myself that I was here with both my brothers. That was pretty spectacular in itself. They were good guys with big hearts and smartass attitudes, three things that I adored about them and aimed to be... but as a chick, and not a guy. I sighed and hugged him which he actually returned, with genuine feeling. Oh, my little Dean was growing up so well! I smiled and pulled back and looked at him. "All right, let's get this bitch."
He grinned at me and then caused me to roll my eyes. "If you messed up my jacket while lying like a log all night, I'll feed you to the wendigo myself."
Sam came over and broke the moment as I shrugged the jacket off and gave it back to Dean. "Hey. So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I, for one, want to kill this evil son of a bitch." We are for sure related.
"Well, hell, you know we're in," Dean joked as he wrapped a thick arm around my head and began rubbing his knuckles across the top of my skull. God, who even gives noogies anymore! What a child.
Pulling myself from his grasp, I stumbled backwards as Sam ignored us and continued his rundown of things while showing Ben and Haley the drawing and notes in Dad's journal. "Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means "evil that devours"."
"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was –" Dean bent over with a gruff sound coming out of him as I'd run up and jumped on his back, making him catch me unless he wanted to fall on the ground. Either way, I didn't really see a downside to my fully not thought out plan.
"Was once a man," I continued from where I was holding onto Dean for dear life as he tried to shake me from his back. "Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman, or a miner… or a hunter…" Haley looked at me and then turned to Sam. "Or Roy," I whispered to Dean as I climbed off his back, receiving a shove to the side.
"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley pressed.
Dean started picking up our crap off the ground and I helped him. "Well, it's always the same -" We took turns saying sentences, making not only Haley and Ben look at us questioningly, but also Sam. I couldn't help but grin when we were finished.
"During some harsh winters a guy finds himself starving -"
"Cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive -"
"Eating other members of his tribe or camp; tasty, right?" I finished up.
Ben looked at me and a light bulb went off. "Like the Donner Party." Kudos, Ben. It's exactly like the Donner Party. And if we didn't friggen get rid of it, we'd be the next Donner Party… or the Winchester-Collins Party I guess. I will not be getting eaten though, so if we get stranded out here I'm gonna have to learn how to hunt a deer or something.
Sam shook his head as he worked past Dean and me acting like Thing One and Thing Two and told Ben, "Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality..." Holy crap, now I understand vampires so much more. That explanation makes so much sense that I never have to research vampires again. Thank you, college boy, seriously. I'm not even being sarcastic right now, you have no idea. It's like I just had some sort epiphany.
"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry," Dean continued. Dude, seriously, why didn't I connect this with vampires before?
"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asked. Well, there's the clincher and total party downer. This was not going to be a fun part to talk about. I could already feel the cold seeping through me as I knew we were going to have to tell her some pretty gruesome things.
"You're not gonna like it," Dean told her as he glanced at me where I was throwing the rest of the trash into the ashes of the fire. Dean and I both looked to Sam who looked back with that face that said "I don't know, dude".
"Tell me," Haley said when we'd all turned to look at her one more.
I sighed after catching a look from Dean. I'm a girl, she's a girl, maybe I can break it down in sympathetic tones that will make a little less hard of an impact when I tell her that basically her brother is hanging in a self made meat freezer. I could actually see the words "self made meat freezer" coming out of Dean's mouth if I allowed him to tell her the facts. "Here's the deal. A wendigo knows how to last long winters without food, because of the whole stranded and having to forge for whatever is around you thing, you know? Make sense? Well, it hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it…" this was way harder than I anticipated. "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 just gotta track it back there." I hoped she got that Tommy would be okay, if he was alive. Judging from her face though, maybe I should have just let Dean tell the story. She didn't look very reassured or happy.
"And then how do we stop it?"
I looked over at Dean. How were we gonna stop it? I didn't have fire. "Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically," he grinned and held up a can of lighter fluid, beer bottle, and white cloth, "we gotta torch the sucker." Fantastic, I'm related to MacGyver.
I was lined up behind the others, following as Dean and his homemade hand grenade thing were leading us through the woods. I was breathing deeply and trying to tell myself that it would be okay. We were going to kill the wendigo and then it wouldn't be scary any more. Sam was behind me and I heard him chuckle. "What?" I asked as we pushed forward.
"Did you get your candy back from Dean?" he asked.
I froze. Damn it! I had the stupid bag within reach all night and this morning and I didn't even think to grab it! Why wouldn't Sam say something earlier? I swear that he is automatically double teaming with Dean against me all the friggen time. I growled and pushed forward with heavier footsteps and a scowl as a louder laugh came from behind me. "Shut up, Sam," I warned only to get another laugh in my ear.
Time passed and it was getting dark out again, totally to my dismay, and eventually Sam had passed by us all and was leading the way, apparently impatient at our slow pace. "Dean," I heard him say. I didn't bother running up there, but I saw Dean quickly head over to where Sam was standing. I stopped behind Ben and was just about to move over to where they were to see whatever it was they were looking at when growling sounded. Effing wendigos, man. I moved quickly and stood in the middle of the haphazard circle that the rest of them were creating, and I spun around looking for any kind of sign of a movement in the rustling trees. Friggen I saw it move again and I jumped and screamed, grabbing Sam's arm and pointing to where the grey body was passing us by. Holy shit, I am done camping forever. The growling didn't stop and I thought I was hearing a high pitched whistle, yell, squeely, whatever the hell it was, it was annoying and I was growing with fear. Why did I let Dean talk me out of leaving the magic circle of safety? He made me sit in the car at Shaw's house, yet he was dragging me through the forest of doom without a single problem.
And to top that off, I started hearing drips. Drips! How do you describe drips other than calling it drips? I whipped my head around and then I found dark red spots appearing on the shoulder of Haley's jacket. "Oh my god," I whispered as I smacked Dean's chest with the back of my hand. Haley clearly heard and felt it too because she looked over to her shoulder, then up in the air, and then screamed. Oh, it was a completely unnecessary scream, don't worry. I mean, ROY'S BODY ONLY FELL FROM THE TREE AND TO THE GROUND AT MY FEET. That's right people. Roy did die, and his bloody corpse was currently lying in front of me and I freaked the hell out. Dean flew over to check Roy's pulse while Sam and Ben rushed to Haley's side.
"His neck's broke," Dean told us as Sam helped Haley up and more growling came. It sounded closer and I looked at Dean. I don't know what told me to run, but I did. I sprinted out of there like it was nobody's business and I heard "…run, run, go, go, go!" being yelled from quite a distance behind me. I don't know what happened next but I slipped behind a tree and started panting heavily until I heard Sam start yelling out for Dean. Looking behind me, there was no one. I couldn't even see Sam, and I panicked. While I started yelling out Sam's name, I screamed when I felt a pressure on my shoulder. I spun quickly and punched, colliding my fist with Sam's shoulder.
"Becca, you okay?" Sam asked as he looked down at me, rubbing his shoulder.
I sighed and nodded my head, shaking out my hand. God, what was this guy, straight steel? "Where're Dean and Haley?" I asked as I looked past Sam and saw only Ben. I saw Ben's face fall and Sam shook his head as he panted, we were both still out of breath. That thing had Dean? Good gravy could today get worse? I racked my brain. There was no sound surrounding us, and I nodded my head and pushed past Sam and Ben. "All right, let's move. We gotta get Dean."
Walking forward, I was ahead of Sam and the surge of power and determination completely voided out any fear I'd had earlier. Dean was gone and I was going to get him back. I understood Haley's stubbornness from before, but if I'm honest with ya, I was pissed that Ben was here. I felt like he was just slowing us down. If it had just been Sam and me, we'd have been moving faster, there wouldn't have been so much talking, and we'd both be on a friggen mission to save that brother of ours.
"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" I heard Ben ask. I couldn't help but scoff.
"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off," Sam told him. Sure, Sam. That's why. It had nothing to do with Roy being a horrible person and complete jackass. I was continuing to move when Ben's voice stopped me.
"They went this way," I spun and looked at Ben. Running forward, I snatched at Ben's hand and pulled the M&M up to my face and stared at it. Damn it, Dean. You are a genius. I was so happy I'd brought those M&M's and that he'd stolen them. If we find him and get him out of this alive, he can have all of my M&M's for the rest of both of our lives. I just really, really hoped that he would be there to steal my M&M's. Dropping the candy into Sam's giant claw of a hand, I smiled.
Sam stared at it and laughed when he met my face. "It's better than breadcrumbs."
I watched the chocolate fall from his hand and land to the ground and turned back around, leading the way after the candies. The last candy was outside of a mine entrance that had those typical signs that should read "we know you aren't going to follow the orders on this sign, so we are just going to waste the ink in telling you to not enter and that it's dangerous to your health" like every mine and cave and practically anything in any adventure movie ever has. I looked at Sam and Ben before they passed me and stepped into the mine. I double checked the area and followed them in, sighing at situation. Dean better be in here.
Sam and I had flashlights shining ahead of us, showing the way through the mine when growling echoed off the walls. Clicking our lights off, we slammed ourselves to the wall. I slapped my hand to my mouth as Sam covered Ben's when the wendigo started coming towards us. I was dead, this is it. I was going to die in this cave thing in Colorado searching for my brother. Was this really the way it was supposed to go down? I didn't even have guns blazing; whether I'm good at blazing guns or not is not the point. I should at least be fighting, right? Sighing into my hand, I relaxed a bit when the wendigo turned the corner and we pushed on down the tunnel. I stopped behind Sam and Ben when the floor creaked. Wait, isn't this floor supposed to be secure? I'm gonna go with no, it wasn't because Sam and Ben crashed through the floor and landed somewhere below us.
"Sam!" I cried through the hole as I bent down and shined my flashlight onto them and saw bones lying scattered all over. I froze. Watching Sam and Ben shift below in my light, I called his name again, drawing his face up towards the ceiling of the area he was in. "Sam, you guys okay?"
"Yeah… yeah, we're good," he struggled.
I clicked off my light and shoved it away, hanging my legs over the edge of the hole. "Catch me," I told him, pushing myself forward slightly.
"Becca, no, just wait," he started. His head suddenly whipped over. "Dean!"
"Damn it, Sam, if you don't friggen catch me, I'll jump down and probably break a leg. You aren't going to leave me stranded up here while Dean –" my voice was probably way louder than it should have been and was echoing off the walls while I became angrier with my brother. I was cut off by a shushing sound and Sam's annoyed face and outstretched arms. Smirking, I slid off the edge of the hole and landed in Sam's arms. "My hero," I batted my eyes at him and scowled when he dropped me to the bones below.
I growled and picked myself up, seeing Dean and Haley hanging by their wrists. "Dean!" I rushed forward, followed by Sam. I came to see Ben already in front of Haley. Sam was next to me as I shook Dean with as much strength as I could.
"Dean!" He said loudly into his ear. Dean's eyes sprang open. Oh thank God. "Dean! Hey, you okay?"
I frowned as Dean winced. He is supposed to be the strong one, not the damsel. I should be the damsel, not this guy. I had to get him out of here. "Yeah," he got out. Ben was beside us, attempting to wake up Haley as Sam cut Dean from his restraints. I caught Dean before he fell, and that was quite a mistake. This guy was huge, and I was not as strong as him. Helping set Dean down on the floor as Sam moved over and released Haley, I couldn't help but continue to frown when Dean kept making pained noises and grimacing.
"You sure you're all right?" I asked quietly, kneeling down in front of him and searching his face.
"Yeah. Yep. Where is he?" Dean groaned up, trying to keep his eyes open. Such a liar. He was trying to be tough, and I was getting pissed. I wasn't pissed at him, no, not really. I was pissed at the situation and I could feel the anger rising and the tears forming. Perfect. Just what I needed right now. "Come on, Becs, don't cry. Not now."
I wiped a stray tear from my cheek. "Hush your face. I'm not crying. I'm angry," I told him as Sam came over to answer Dean's question.
"He's gone for now," I heard him say from where he towered over us.
I helped Dean free from his ropes around his wrists and when he nodded that it was okay, I helped him stand and leaned him against me. Sam moved over to where Haley was standing and I saw she was by Tommy. At least, I thought it was Tommy, he was dirty and beat up pretty bad and it was kind of hard to tell exactly who it was under the grime.
Dean left me and started going through the packs at our feet, pulling out some flare guns. Shoving one into my hand, he held two in his hands. "Check it out," he said as I inspected my flare gun.
"Flare guns," Sam smiled as we both spoke at the same time. "Those'll work." I couldn't help but roll my eyes when Dean twirled the guns.
After we'd freed Tommy and got everything we needed, Haley and Ben supported Tommy who was limping, and Dean and Sam lead us down a tunnel, and myself bringing up the rear. I stopped and spun around, pointing my flare gun ahead of me when I heard growling.
"Looks like someone's home for supper," Dean joked.
"We'll never outrun it," Haley said from where she stood, still supporting her brother. Optimism, Haley, try it. I'm the only one who gets to be a pessimist today. Catching eyes with Dean, I nodded. We needed to split up. I knew it, he knew it, and Sam better have known it.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean asked looking at Sam.
Sam checked all of us before turning back to face Dean. "Yeah, I think so."
Good. We were all on the same page. I walked past the Collins and stood next to Dean who turned to face them. "All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam and Becca. They're gonna get you out of here." Uh, no. Dean isn't allowed to go off alone, last time he wasn't by me or Sam, he disappeared. I wasn't allowing that this time. We were supposed to stick together. I was sticking together.
"I'm going with you, Dean," I told him with a stern look.
"No, Becs, just -" he rolled his eyes and looked at Sam before meeting my eyes.
"No. I'm going with you. Now you either accept the fact or you get pissed because I follow you and we get into a big ole fight. Now shape up and ship out," I said pushing past him and pointing down the tunnel with my flare gun, not waiting for a response. Shape up and ship out? God, who was I, my father?
I was only a few steps down the tunnel when Dean walked past me briskly and started yelling. "CHOW TIME, YOU FREAKY BASTARD! YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, BRING IT ON, BABY, I'M FEELING GOOD!" Who is this guy!? I followed after him as he turned and went down the tunnel.
"Dean, if you start shouting "I wanna be an Air Force Ranger" we're gonna have to talk later," I told him while laughing.
"Shut up," he chortled before turning back and winking at me before taking off again. "I HOPE YOU'RE HUNGRY YOU FREAK…" he started yelling as we hurried along. It was a bit later and Dean and I hadn't heard growling or anything, and he was clutching his side when he slowed down his pace.
I was instantly at his side. "Dean, you okay?"
"HEY! HEY, YOU WANT SOME WHITE MEAT, BITCH! I'M RIGHT HERE!" he shouted, making me jump. "Yeah, Becs, I'm good," he said with a smile.
Rolling my eyes, I sped past him when we heard growling from further down the tunnel, Dean right on my tail. Just as we were passing the turn to a connecting tunnel, I saw a shadow pass by. I put my hand out and stopped Dean who almost ran right past me. He eyed me, not understanding, until I pointed to the shadow that was just now blending in with the distant darkness. I heard the growl, much louder and we quickly made our way towards where I heard Sam's shot echoing off walls. Dean and I stood next to each other as the wendigo slowly approached the people on the other side of him. One of those people was Sam, and I was not going to let that monster hurt my other brother. This was it, it was about to go down.
"HEY!" Dean and I shouted simultaneously, causing the wendigo to turn and look at us. It screamed, well, growled I guess, but either way it was angry at us. Perfect. It better be pissed, if it was pissed, I wouldn't feel as bad. This might actually be fun. I smirked and pressed my index finger against the trigger of the flare gun and watched as it soared into the wendigo's chest along with Dean's and then went up in flames. I, of course, flinched from the small amount of kick that went no further than my wrist. I don't think I'd ever really get used to firing a weapon.
"Not bad, huh?" Dean asked a grinning Sam.
"Man, that was AWESOME!" I shouted, hugging Dean out of glee, only to pull back when he winced beneath my grip. I looked up with a sheepish grin, but it spread when I saw his eyes twinkling and that shit eating grin on his face once more. Okay, so maybe I would get used to the firing of guns, especially if that adrenaline rush came back and I knew I killed that stupid monster that kept me awake all night. Yeah, maybe I would be the hunter my dad trained me to be after all.
"Dude, I'm fine. Would you let me go already?" I was trying to slip off the edge of the ambulance and slink away towards my brothers but this paramedic just wouldn't let me go.
"Miss, I have to check your wounds," he told me with a hard look.
I shoved his hand that held an incoming cotton ball covered in ointment away. "Listen, guy, I have no wounds." I held my arms up and slowly spun in a circle. "See? Right as rain, good as gold, awesome as can be. Can I please go now?"
He crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his tongue in his cheek. Eyeing me up and down, a smirk spread across his face. Is he, is he trying to get at me with a smolder or something? Back off, Jack. Now is not our moment. I scoffed and pushed past him, making sure to bump him with my shoulder and send a wink and middle finger his way before turning around and striding over to Dean, a little extra swing in my hips and pep in my step.
"…cheapen the moment?" I heard Haley ask as I appeared and propped myself against the hood of the Impala and leaned against Dean.
"Dean? Of course," I grinned as he gave her a "duh" filled "Yeah."
The paramedic I'd just been dealing with reappeared. I rolled my eyes at him as he eyed me with that ugly smirk before turning to Haley. "You riding with your brother?"
"Yeah," she nodded to him.
I watched as Ben and Sam came over and Haley told Ben it was time for them to go. After Sam and Ben nodded a silent good bye to each other, I smiled at Ben and then Haley kissed Dean's cheek. I allowed that moment to linger for two seconds before I made retching noises next to Dean, only for him slap the side of my leg, causing me to stop and grin even more. I watched as Ben and Haley took off for the ambulance after thanking Sam and me, and was squished between my brothers when Sam sat down on the other side of me.
"Man, I hate camping," Dean broke the silence that had overcome us as the ambulance closed up and drove away.
"Me too," Sam agreed. I didn't say anything as I watched the ambulance turn the corner, but I felt their eyes on me.
"Oh, I don't know," I teased them. "I think that was a blast. We should do that every weekend."
Dean stood up off of the hood of the Impala and raised a brow. "You like camping?"
"God, no," I scoffed as I shook my head at him. "I never want to go in the woods again. Ever."
"Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?" Dean asked after shooting me an eye roll and pulled me off of the hood and into another noogie.
"Yeah, I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving," Sam smirked. Yeah, nice try, like Dean was really gonna… Hold the phone! Did Dean just throw him the keys? Did the world just end? Am I dead? Are pigs flying around me?
I gawked as they both walked around the car and stood at the doors. "You coming?" Dean asked me.
"Did you just? Is he really gonna? What the? Are you? HOW COME I CAN'T EVER DRIVE THE CAR?" I yelled as I stared at Dean.
"Dude, let's just leave her here," Dean sighed before he slid into the passenger seat.
Sam laughed and slid in next to him, starting the vehicle. What the hell just happened? I could hear the music through the closed windows and slowly made my way into the back of the Impala. Buckling up I began singing with the words of the song, still completely confused as to what I had just witnessed. "MY SHIP ISN'T COMING AND I JUST CAN'T PRETEND!"
"BECCA, IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO DROP YOU OFF ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY!" Dean yelled. Nope, the world hadn't ended. Things were still exactly the same as before. Yes.
