A/N: Sorry it's been so long since an update on this one! Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. Thanks to Trasan.
The Forest
Chapter Four
The forest was full of sound, the wind moving through the clearing, the soft sigh of the breeze a counterpoint to Rob's harsh breathing. Sam knelt beside him. "What do you mean gone?" he repeated, trying to calm his panic. If Galen was gone, it meant that Dean might be... Oh god, no.
"Galen's gone, the bond broke, Sam. I..." Rob took a breath, his face growing paler with each passing moment.
"What?"
"We..." Rob took a deep, slow breath. He closed his eyes, his lips moving. Sam thought he caught a Latin phrase. The Keeper laid there for another minute, Sam counted the seconds off in his head, then Rob opened his eyes. "Okay, we need to find it. Fast." He held out his hand. "Help me up."
"What's going on?" Sam demanded.
"When the bond is broken, it's bad." Rob stood and leaned on his sword, the point digging into the ground.
"Bad?" Sam looked at him, What the hell does that mean?
"Very."Rob took an unsteady step, heading towards the edge of the clearing.
"Do you mean..." Sam caught up with him, stopping him with a hand on his arm. "Are you dying?"
"Pretty much." Rob smiled.
"Why?"
"It's part of being Custodes Noctis, Sam. We share a link, it lets us fight more efficiently, lets us survive wounds that might otherwise kill us."
"What do you mean?"
"The link lets us go on. When we were fighting the Old One..." Rob swallowed. "Galen was...And after..." He shook his head. "But, if one of us dies, the other will." He shrugged. "It's just how it works. I can keep going for awhile—long enough to kill the thing—but then..."
"You die?"
"Yeah," Rob said with a finality in his voice that Sam decided not to pursue. "It went through here, it left a trail."
"Where did it go?" Sam said, looking around. Did it drag Dean this way? Was Dean okay? Is he...?There were several bushes that had been broken, a trail where something had been dragged clearly marked the ground for several feet, but then disappeared.
"This way I think," Rob said, his eyes unfocused.
"What do you see?"
"It looks like the poison that's in Dean and Galen."
"Like a slug trail?"
"Yeah, exactly!" Rob smiled at him.
A low growl sounded from the trees to their right. Sam stopped, looking into the forest. The sun was starting to set, the woods around them growing dark. Rob paused peering into the trees as well. The growl came again, closer this time, Sam caught the flash of something moving behind the undergrowth. The animal—whatever it was—was a dark shadow sliding through the forest. He heard Rob start moving again, and followed, aware of the creature stalking them from the bushes. "Rob?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know what's moving out there? Can you see it?"
"No."
"Okay, is it animal or...?"
"It's not vegetable." Rob chuckled. "Supernatural, though. I wonder if it's hunting us."
"What else?"
"I don't know. There has been an increase in dark creatures lately. Over the last few months, I've heard more reports of dark things wandering around."
"We have, too," Sam said, glancing over to where the creature was moving.
"Is that why you were out here? Hunting the werewolf?"
"No, not really. A friend called us and told us about the attacks. We were in the area, and said we'd check it out."
"Do you hear that?" Rob stopped and raised his hand, his head cocked to one side.
"What?" Sam paused. "Wait—that clicking noise?" He turned in the direction of the sound.
"Yeah."
The clicking got louder for a moment longer, then disappeared. A second later there was a terrified yelp from the trees. Sam heard the creature racing through the bushes. It exploded onto the path in front of them. It didn't even look in their direction as it ran past them. "That's not good," Sam said.
"No," Rob said, staring into trees. "Shit. Get down!" Without waiting for Sam to move, Rob tackled him shoving them both off the path and into a large bush.
There was something else moving in the forest now. Sam felt it vibrate up from the ground. The tremors were so small that if he hadn't been flat on the ground he wouldn't have noticed them. He held his breath, listening to the forest around them. There was a barely audible hum, in a deep tone, one low enough that it was a physical sensation. It grew steadily louder, as it approached, Sam's heart started slamming in his chest. He tried to breathe through a growing panic. After several terrifying seconds, something moved out of the thicket, it slid towards them. Sam could barely control the urge to run, to get away from whatever was there. Breathe. The thing was coming towards them slowly, then, it was almost close enough to touch when it paused for a moment—then it accelerated so quickly it was gone as if it had never been there. Sam heard its passage through the bushes. The panic that had filled him was ebbing. He was pushing himself up to follow it when a terrified howl echoed around him.
"It's hunting whatever was stalking us," Sam said as he stood. What the hell was stalking us? I don't think it was a werewolf, then what?
"Follow it?" Rob said. Sam realized it was a question and turned to look at the Keeper. "Or backtrack it?"
Sam paused, turning the question over in his head, letting the pounding of his heart ease a little. "Backtrack."
"Yeah." Rob scrubbed a hand across his face.
"Are you okay?"
"Okay enough. Let's go."
They walked down the trail of broken, flattened vegetation that the thing had made as it moved past them. The light was fading, a stand of birches standing out, their white trunks light against the darker fir and maple that filled the forest. Another howl broke over the forest, ending in a sudden yelp, then nothing. Sam spotted something off the path they were following. He headed over to a small clearing, ringed by large stones and dead trees. "Hey," he called softly, his voice seeming loud in the quiet of the dark woods.
"What?" Rob walked over to him.
"Look." Sam pointed down to the mass of bones on the ground. He squatted down and poked at them. "Some of these are fresh, some older."
"Some human," Rob said, kicking through the pile.
"And at least one vampire." Sam picked up a jaw bone with a double set of teeth clearly visible. "You think it feeds here?"
"I don't think so. It doesn't look like a feeding ground," he said. "And these are pretty jumbled."
"Yeah, they are, and all different ages." Sam got up and scouted around the edge of the clearing. "Them!" he said suddenly.
"Them who?" Rob asked.
"The movie, 'Them', it's about giant ants."
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen it?"
"Are there people who haven't?" Rob was digging through the pile of bones with a knife.
"Remember the scene when they find them in the desert?"
"Which one?" Rob stopped what he was doing. "You mean the one when the ant spits out the ribcage?"
"Yeah, cleaning out the anthill."
"You think this is... ? Huh, could be."
"It dumps the bones out here when it's done with them?" Sam said, thinking out loud. "Then where is it coming from?"
"Its mark is all over, there isn't one main trail."
"How often do you think it cleans house?" Sam asked thoughtfully, an idea starting to form.
"I don't... Oh, we wait?"
"What do you think?" Sam said softly, nearly everything in him screaming to keep going and find Dean. There was one small voice, that sounded remarkably like his brother, that told him to wait.
"Galen..." Rob took a deep breath. "Galen always says waiting can be a good offense."
"Yeah. So?" Sam said, meeting the other's eyes.
"We wait."
XXX
There was the sound of water dripping from nearby, a steady drip and with it came a fetid scent of decay and an acrid undertone that Galen could taste in the back of his throat. He tried to move, his body refused to obey the command, he took a breath and tried to focus a little of the healing, nothing happened. It was in that same moment that he realized that he couldn't sense his brother at all. "Rob?" he said, suddenly aware of the broken bond like an aching wound in his chest. No. There was a deep darkness buzzing through his body, making the poison thrum in sympathy. "Rob?" he said again.
"He's not here," Dean answered him.
"Rob?" he called through their connection. Nothing. Galen's heart started pounding. He opened his eyes to complete darkness and reached out a hand, coming into contact with a wall, it was hard, but tightly packed earth, not stone. "It's blocking me," he said out loud. Maybe that's why I can't sense Rob, not that he's dead, but it's blocking me.
"What?"
"Dean?" Galen tried to sit up, when his body didn't respond he rolled away from the wall. As soon as he was out of contact with the earth, the darkness throbbing through his body receded. In the walls but not the floor. The floor is stone, maybe that's why? "Where are you?"
"I'm okay."
"That's not what I asked. Where are you?"
"What? Against a wall," Dean said.
"How badly are you injured?"
"I'm okay."
"Yeah, me, too." Galen put his hand against the wall, the darkness buzzed happily. "Can you move away from the wall?"
"What?"
"It's aggravating the poison." Galen moved towards the sound of the hunter's voice. "If you get away from the wall..."
"Yeah, that might be a problem."
"Can you move at all?"
"I can't see."
"I can't either, I'm hoping it's dark in here."
"When it first attacked me, I went blind." Dean sighed, Galen could almost hear the shrug in his voice. "I kind of assumed it was the same thing."
"Yeah?" Galen's hand came into contact with Dean's foot.
"Can't move much either."
"How much is not much?" Galen asked, grabbing Dean's foot. "If I help can you move?"
"Not far."
"You just need to get away from the wall."
"Okay," Dean said. As soon as Galen felt movement, he pulled, dragging Dean away from the wall. There was a moment of silence, he could hear Dean's ragged breathing. "Huh. I feel a little better."
"There's something in the wall," Galen said, moving in the opposite direction. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what? Wait—that clicking sound?"
"Yeah, it sounds like it's getting closer." A second later, the floor started trembling, the clicking sound filling the air around them. It increased in volume until Galen clapped his hands over his ears, trying to block it out. Something in the sound made the poison in his body react, he fell back against the floor, unable to move. The ground was shaking, dirt falling on his face, the noise filling his head to the point he couldn't think—and then it started diminishing, like the rumble of a freight train going by. It had been silent for several minutes before Galen heard a groan from beside him.
"Shit," Dean said.
"Yeah," Galen agreed. "Rob and Sam might need to hurry."
"You think they're okay?" The despair in Dean's voice hit Galen hard.
"Honestly? I don't know. The bond is broken, I can't sense Rob at all, which is bad."
"Bad?"
"Yes, but, there is something in the walls that is blocking the healing. I think it might be blocking the bond too. If it hunts Keepers, it might have a way to break that link—to make us more vulnerable."
"Wishful thinking?"
"Maybe, but there is something here that is blocking me."
"So what's the plan?" Dean asked.
"We figure a way out?"
"You think?" He heard Dean shift. "Where is out?"
"I don't know, which way did the sound come from?"
"Behind me," Dean said.
"Okay." Galen rolled over and crawled till he came into contact with a wall. He ran his hand along it, trying to get a sense of what was out there. He heard Dean moving as well.
"Chamber's about ten feet?" Dean said from his left.
"I think so," Galen said. He slid his hand a little further. The wall wasn't just tightly packed earth, as he'd assumed, it had more of a concrete feeling to it. Under his palm the texture of the wall changed, the soil looser. The lash of darkness that hit him was enough to cause his arm to go out from under him. "Over here, can you dig into the wall without it affecting you too much?"
Dean came up beside him and a shower of dirt fell on Galen. "I think so," Dean said with a groan. "As long as it's not too far."
"I'll see if I can find something to help." Galen felt around, trying to locate anything he could use to dig through the wall. A shout of surprise pulled his attention back. "Dean?"
"I'm through. It gave way."
"How big is the hole?"
"Big enough to crawl through I think," Dean said. There were the sounds of movement and more dirt fell on Galen. "Yeah, you can get through." Dean's voice echoed like it was in a larger space. Galen heard emotion stirring in the hunter's voice, despite the business like tone. "I'm still blind."
"Maybe it's still dark," Galen said, forcing himself through the small space. His fell into an open space, dropping about a foot onto a stone floor. His voice echoed around them. "Corridor?"
"I think so. There is something slimy over here. I think it's a trail."
"A slime trail?"
"Yeah, how fun is that," Dean said with a chuckle. "Think it leads out of here?"
"It might, or it might take us deeper."
"Should we follow it?"
"Do we really have a choice?" Galen asked.
"No. So follow the slimy brick road?"
"You aren't going to start singing are you?"
"Why not?" Dean was humming "Follow the Yellow Brick Road." Galen followed the sound of the hunter's voice. "Hey, I can stand up. How big is this mother?"
"Big?" Galen said, standing. He reached his hand over his head, expecting to come into contact with the ceiling—he didn't. "Really big."
"Yeah. Let's go, I'll take point."
"Right." Galen fell in behind the sound of Dean's footsteps, edging a little to Dean's left, so that if something came up on them it wouldn't get them both in the same attack. Well, maybe, depending on how big it is. "How long can you keep going?" he called after several minutes.
"I'm okay."
"I'm a healer, Dean, you can't lie to me about things like that."
"You said the walls were blocking you."
"Yeah, but I have ears. I can hear you limping on your right leg, your breathing is off..."
"Smart ass."
"Answer my question. How long can you keep going?"
"I'm okay."
"Dean," Galen growled. "Do you really think that's smart? Not letting me know how badly you're hurt? If we have to fight, it's good to know what I can expect."
"Fine, how long can you keep going?" Dean snapped, his footsteps stopping abruptly.
"Not too long," Galen answered. "The poison is starting to affect me. I think my ribs got bruised when it grabbed me. I'm okay for a little longer."
"Yeah, okay. Me, too." Dean started moving again.
They walked along in silence. The corridor turned sharply to the left at one point. Dean ran into the wall, then moved off with a muffled curse. Galen kept waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark, for some sliver of light to reach him—but nothing happened. He was beginning to think that maybe Dean was right, and they were both blind.
"It turns again," Dean said from in front of him. "Right this time."
"Okay." Galen put his hand out, feeling for the wall. His fingers brushed it, and he turned to the right.
"It's sloping up. Wait a minute."
Galen stopped. "What is it?"
"There's another branch. I think I feel a breeze. Give me a sec."
"Okay."
"There's a break in the ceiling up here," Dean called. "I can feel the wind. About ten paces from the last turn take a left."
Galen counted off the paces, as he reached the place Dean indicated, he felt the bond snap back into place. "Rob?" he called.
"What?" Dean said.
"Rob?" Galen reached out through the bond for his brother.
"Galen?" Rob's voice was loud in his head, as if he had shouted. "It's Galen, Sam," Rob said, his voice had the odd echo that meant he was talking to someone else.
"They're okay," Galen said to Dean.
"Thank god," Dean whispered.
"Dean's with me," Galen said.
"I can't read you, are you okay?"
"For now."
"Where are you?" Rob asked
"Galen," Dean said.
"Underground, we're following a corridor. There's something down here that's blocking me, but Dean found a break in the wall."
"Galen," Dean repeated.
"Can you stay there? Maybe I can locate the break."
"Galen! Listen!" Dean shouted.
"What's going on?" Rob said softly.
Galen heard it then—what Dean had heard, a muted clicking, the ground was starting to tremble. "We can't stay here, Rob."
"What? Why not?" Rob demanded.
"It's coming back."
To Be Continued
