4xxx

Dean had managed to go cross-county in only a day or two, once he had even had to get coast-to-coast with people's lives on the line. It was doable, provided he had the Impala. Wasn't easy, not even with two drivers switching in and out, but it was doable.

One drove while the other slept. It was the only way to make it to Wyoming in anything approaching reasonable time, and neither Dean nor Sara could even consider stopping for more than the time it took to fill up the car. The only even vaguely good thing about this situation was that skinwalkers could be killed with anything, blades, regular bullets, it didn't matter what, and so they had more than enough weaponry to take care of whatever was waiting for them.

Sara was pale, tight-lipped. The Atwoods were, after all, her family. Dean had got to know the brothers pretty well, admittedly, and he didn't want to see either of them hurt any more than Sara did. They were good Hunters and, beyond that, they'd looked out for Sara since they'd met her, which was plenty to get Dean on their side. And even apart from all that, Will and Adrian were Hunters. Hunters watched out for Hunters, and if Bobby wasn't laid up with a broken ankle courtesy of a poltergeist, the older man would already be there.

They were only about four hours out from the town where they'd been planning to meet up with the Atwoods, stopping for a moment for Dean to get fuel and food, when Sara's phone rang. Dean looked over, worried, barely before she'd managed to pull the phone back out of her pocket.

"Lucian," she said, looking back at Dean. "Yeah, that's me." After a few very long moments, Sara closed her eyes for a second in relief. "Where? Memorial Hospital? Yeah, I'm only a few hours away. Is he-? His brother was supposed to be with him. I see. Uh, thanks."

"They got one of them?"

"Someone found Adrian by the side of the road, out in the hills," Sara said, nodding. "He's in bad shape. Hasn't woken up. And there's no sign of Will."

"We'll find him. Come on, we're almost there."

xxx

'In bad shape' turned out to be a supposedly-nice way of saying 'mauled to within an inch of his life, not to mention enough blood-loss to fell a lesser man'.

There was a reason Dean hated hospitals, and that sort of miscommunication was only the start. Getting from NYS to Wyoming in so short a space of time hadn't done anything for his temper, and the way Sara was jiggling where she sat and spinning her grandmother's ring around her finger because no one would just tell what the hell was going on wasn't helping much either.

But finally a doctor complete with spotless white coat came over, smiling in a way which Dean could recognise as meaning he had predominately bad news.

Dean was spot on. He hung back a little, keeping an eye on Sara, while this Doctor Alexis gave her the news about Adrian. Wild animal attack, apparently, heavy blood loss, bound to be some scarring and they were still waiting for him to regain consciousness. Sara nodded, calm in the way that only someone who couldn't afford to break down could pull off.

When the doctor had finished saying everything he needed to, Dean managed to find out where Adrian had been found with a few basic questions, stepping forward to stand close behind Sara. With a location in mind and one Atwood safe in the hospital, Dean and Sara headed out.

It was easy enough to find the spot where Adrian had been found; the doctor gave good directions. Dean didn't miss the fact that they were close to the area that Will had outlined in his research, and he was willing to bet that Sara had spotted that same thing.

"Sara, you with me?" he asked as they got out of the car.

"Yeah." Sara leant against the car. "So, what do you think? How should we do this?"

Dean gave his plan a final once over in his mind before speaking. "Move as quickly as possible. Find Will, get the hell out of here. Kill any coyote we see, but we don't hunt 'em down 'less they're in our way."

Sara nodded. "Rifles or shotguns?"

"One of each. You take the shotgun."

They each had their own pump-action shotgun, but Dean knew Sara preferred them, despite the fact that she was a crack-shot with a rifle. He'd started handling shotguns and rifles before he hit double-figures, so it was no-never-mind to him. Besides, each of them would also have a knife and a handgun.

"When we find Will, I am going to forbid any of you to go anywhere near woods and hills ever again," Dean grumbled half-heatedly.

"Their house is practically in a forest," Sara said, tucking spare ammo for her revolver into her pockets.

"Well…They can move."

"But then I'd have to move all my stuff as well," she replied, perfectly reasonable.

They were good at this, casual words in serious situations, and Dean was so ridiculously relieved that Sara was there with him to say those casual words. Last time he'd been under this kinda pressure, it had been Sara who was missing and her mother had died on that hunt. Hell, a minute change of detail and Sara would've walked into the same shit as the Atwoods.

But Sara being safe didn't mean that Will was, and it some way it was a mercy that Adrian was still unconscious, because Dean would rather face all the skinwalkers in the entire goddamn country alone than have to tell Adrian that his kid brother was missing. Dean pulled two flashlights out of the trunk and slammed it shut.

They had hunting to do.

xxx

Normally, you screwed up on a hunt and you were dead. That's why Will was so obsessed with details and patterns. Scientia potentia est, after all. And it seemed completely and utterly unfair that this hunt had gone wrong during the fact-finding stage, not the actual violent bit.

Although there had been plenty of violence the last two days. Will's left leg was a eye-watering lump of agony, red hot pain spiking from half-way down his thigh. His foot could be missing for all he knew; everything below that focal point of pain was just a blur.

Goddamn it, he wanted his big brother.

No, that's not quite right. He wanted to be wherever Adrian was now, not for Adrian to be here. An odd point, possibly, at least until you know that Will was in a fucking cave surrounded by evil skinwalkers.

But if Adrian wasn't here, then it might be ok. Not right now, of course, but it might at some currently unforeseen point in the future be ok again. To become a skinwalker, you had to eat part of a family member, preferably a sibling. And Will didn't care if these little fuckers thought he'd be a good candidate to add to their numbers, there was no way in hell he was going to take a chunk out of Adrian.

Of course, none of those mystical texts and reams of lore said anything about the aforementioned eating having to be voluntary, which was the reason why Will had shoved his brother down a hill. His leg had got mangled practically before they knew what they were up against, and there was no way for Adrian to get them both out of there safe and sound, not with Will being unable to walk or even hop.

So he did the decent thing, knocking Adrian literally off balance and down a hill, and then shot the first skinwalker he saw approaching. The second had got close enough to kick his bad leg hard enough to make Will white-out on the whole situation. Next thing he knew, he was in this cave with his eyesight bleary from pain, but he had yet to eat his brother, and that was good enough. Not that he'd object to the cavalry turning up anytime soon, of course.

Will could hear the skinwalkers, moving around, talking to each other. They were looking for Adrian. Well, good luck to them. Even cut and bloodied, Will's big brother was more than a match for uppity shapeshifters, and he must have been smart enough to go for help. Please, God.

His father had always told Will that you couldn't pray with a shopping list. Couldn't ask for specifics, as it were. Peace on Earth was meant for all and so on. But Will always figured that God had to listen to someone praying, begging, pleading for a loved one. Sometimes, after all, you started off with the things close to your heart and then worried about others. Just human nature. So he shut his eyes against the tears he couldn't be bothered to control and prayed.

Let him be alright. Please, God, let him be alright.

xxx

Bobby had once said that Dean had the Devil's own luck. Dean would disagree. While, most of the time, his luck was as good as a demon at screwing him over, sometimes it was just the opposite. It was more annoying than the devil, really. At least demons were consistently shitty.

Thankfully, this hunt was falling into the latter category. Will's notions about where the nest would be turned out to be almost spot on, which both explained why Adrian was in such bad shape and why only one of them had made it back to town. The skinwalkers – and Dean knew they were skinwalkers, why else would humans by wearing animal skins and little else in Wyoming – seemed to have settled in a cave which Dean could easily see from his current position.

A call to Bobby while still on the road had confirmed that while skinwalkers would hunt and live in packs, there would never be more than a dozen of the things in any one place. The things were apparently fond of their space, to say the least. They'd found three dead skinwalkers, one of which Sara was prepared to bet had been killed by Will for some reason, so they had a maximum of nine left to deal with. Might all be in there, might not be. Any which were in there were going to die. Well, all but one. They needed that one to tell them where Will was, with or without some violent persuasion.

Dean edged back slowly so he could look at Sara, who nodded slowly at his unasked question. His father's marine training had resulted, many years down the line, in Dean's knowledge of military hand-signs, and Dean had spent some time passing that knowledge onto Sara. It was easy to lay out a plan, another bonus of a former-Marine for a father, and easy to communicate it to Sara.

Surprise, aggression, speed. Awesome combination at any time, but especially right now. The skinwalkers were most likely a bit edgy, having just had two hunters drop in on them, and there was a most decidedly edgy lookout crouched by the entrance of the cave. Dean grinned, tapped Sara on the shoulder. When she nodded, he raised the rifle, taking careful aim.

The scout dropped, hole clear through his forehead.

There's nothing quite like shooting someone to get people's attention and three more skinwalkers dashed out of the cave. Idiotic move, but it allowed Dean to shoot all of them as well, so he was complaining too much.

"Go. Go!" Dean ordered.

The two of them moved forward. Another skinwalker ran out of the cave, only to fall back with a chest full of buckshot. Dean had switched to his pistol and put a bullet through the thing's head, just to be sure. Swinging around, he shot another two, one through the head and one through the throat, before a third slammed into him and sent him flying.

He heard another shotgun blast when he hit the floor, the skinwalker landing on top of him. Dean used his forearm to stop the creature ripping his throat out and his knees to press the skinwalker up enough that he could twist the pistol round and shoot it in the gut until he could shove it away.

When nothing moved or attacked him, Dean stood up and quickly counted the bodies. Added to the ones they'd found on the way here, it made a round dozen dead skinwalkers. Quick, clean, no major injuries. Just the way he liked it. With a glance at Sara, which got him a small answering smile to the unasked question, Dean pulled out his flashlight.

He stepped forward, leading Sara deeper in to the cave. It stank of rotten meat and blood.

"Guess they don't just eat their own siblings," he said, wrinkling his nose. That really was foul.

Sara snorted, either in agreement or in disgust, and she was starting to look a little green.

When they finally found Will, though, that shade of green faded right away. Sara was naturally pale at the best of time. The fact that Will looked even whiter was more of a concern for Dean, to be honest.

"Hey! Hey, buddy, you with me?" Dean asked.

He didn't get a reply. But then, with Will's leg looking like that, he didn't exactly expect one.

"Got a pulse," Sara said. "Looks like the skinwalkers stopped the bleeding." She touched a rough bandage. "Didn't want him to die. Why wouldn't they want him to die?"

Dean shrugged. "We need to get him out of here, now. Good thing he's a skinny bastard. I can carry him." He held out his rifle; he'd need both his hands free. When Sara didn't take it, he flicked her arm, hard, with his free hand. "Stay focused, Sara. We're almost done."

Sara took the rifle from his hands, strapping it across her back, before reloading her shotgun with hands that shook.

Dean carefully slung Will over his shoulder. Moving him like this wasn't Dean's first choice, but he seriously doubted that he could do any more damage to that leg. Assuming they made it back to civilisation, Dean was prepared to bet that Will's hunting days were well and truly over. Judging from Sara's expression, she was thinking the same thing.

But first things first. Will could deal with his newfound retirement once he was safe.

xxx

Doctor Alexis looked surprised, to say the least, when Dean and Sara reappeared in Memorial Hospital with the missing William Atwood. The thought of the expression on that man's face was enough to make Dean grin, and God knew he needed a reason to smile at the moment.

Mind you, at least no one was dead. That was also a pretty good reason.

Dean's opinion of Will's leg had been pretty much spot-on. If the guy was lucky, he'd be able to eventually walk with just a cane. Breaking that news to Adrian had actually been way more difficult, and the guy had moped around for three days straight after recovering from his blood-loss before Dean had done everyone a favour and dragged him off to a local bar. The evening ended with the two of them trying to kick the shit out of each other, but sometimes that was a good thing.

So Adrian was doing better. Will, oddly enough, seemed to be the guy who had the least problems with his current situation. Dean knew that he'd never be able to handle something like this if it had happened to him. Or to Sammy.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when Sara shoved a cup of coffee under his nose and flopped down into the chair next to him. They'd spent most of the last week in the hospital, waiting for the doctors and the Atwoods to sort everything out and figure out what to do next.

"Heard from your dad?" Sara asked, sipping her own drink. Tea, of course. She loathed coffee.

Dean nodded. "Says he's sorry 'bout Will. He's got another hunt lined up, asked me if we wanted it. Something in Athens, Ohio."

"What did you say?"

"Said we'd hunt again when this was dealt with and he said he'd take the monster." Dean nudged her. "We can be a civil family, you know. How's Will?"

"Docs are talking about physical therapy, and going slow and not pushing himself, but he's okay. Miraculously."

"He told me yesterday that out of all us, he's the best one to have to suffer this," Dean said.

Sara smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like Will. To be honest, he's been waiting for something like this to happen. Peter Atwood, their father, he had to quit hunting in his twenties because he lost one of his eyes."

"What did he do when he couldn't hunt?" Dean asked, honestly curious. The idea of an after hunting fascinated him, mostly because he wasn't sure he believed in it.

"Became a priest."

"Huh." Dean shot Sara a sideways look and asked a question that had previously come exclusively from Sara. "Heard from your dad?"

"Nope. And he's not my dad, Dean, just a…"

"Sperm donor?" Dean offered.

"Something like that. He wants to talk to me, he can find me easily enough."

"He seemed ok."

"You think? You didn't…"

"Didn't what?"

"Li just…" Sara paused again, trying to sort it out in her mind. "He felt wrong."

"Like, evil wrong?"

"No, like… weird wrong. Not bad, but different. Like my gran. Mind you, that might be why I'm so cautious 'bout him," she added, only half-joking. Her grandmother might have done a good job of preparing Sara for this life, but she'd also managed to screw Sara over more than once.

"Might be the whole ritual-deathwalker thing he has working for him," Dean offered, shrugging.

"Maybe."

"So what else is bugging you?"

Sara smiled, not even bothering to deny it. "Adrian's asked me to go back to Black Earth with him and Will next week. He wants me to stay until things are settled, till Will's adapted."

"Yeah, I thought he might do that," Dean said.

"You and Adrian… You're so damn similar, you know? Adrian can't stay still for much longer, or he'll flip, and leaving Will alone right now seems a little harsh."

Dean nodded. Sara was right about Adrian; Dean recognised the signs of a twitchy hunter, mostly because he was suffering the same thing. If Sara did this, he'd keep hunting alone.

"How long?" he asked.

"Month. Maybe a month and a half."

Shit. That was a lot longer that he'd anticipated. And Dean hated working alone, and he knew that Sara knew that. If he said so, he knew she'd come with him. But the Atwoods had helped Sara for years, and it was partially Dean's fault that this had happened. If they'd stuck to the plan, Will and Adrian would've had Dean and Sara there as backup from the start of the hunt, and Will wouldn't have been stuck alone for two days in a cave with monsters as his leg was irreparably damaged.

Sara was watching him carefully. She knew him well enough that he didn't try to bullshit her either. Like that whole thing with Li had proven, Sara only cared about the truth. Well, the truth and her boys.

"It's okay," he said. "I'll swing by between hunts, give you guys a hand. If you want."

Sara nodded. "Yeah."

"And, you know, when Will's sorted and stuff, you call me. We'll head off again. Plenty of things left to kill out there."

That made Sara grin, and Dean was willing to bet that it wasn't the promise of violence that did it.

He left Wyoming for Ohio the next day, music playing loud and passenger seat empty. But that didn't bug him too much. It'd be full again soon enough. And Dean could live with that.

xxx

The final chapter should be up in less than a week. Huge thanks to Helenahandcart for reviewing.