CARRY ON WAYWARD ROAD
THE WEB WE WEAVE
CHAPTER 7
"Dean, you okay?" Sam asked once they had safely made it back into their room.
He wasn't sure why he asked. He knew if his brother answered it wouldn't be an honest answer. But, not to Sam's surprise, Dean didn't reply to his question. He had gently collapsed on his bed. He had to take a break from the seated position. He was so uncomfortable, physically uncomfortable, mentally shaken.
He closed his eyes to block out the world. He needed a moment to himself, before discussing anything about the hunt. Once he had calmed himself enough, and endured enough abdominal pain, he pulled himself from his laying position and headed to the bathroom, pausing at the open door.
"Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"Has it been long enough?"
Sam racked his brain, long enough for what? His puzzled look as he thought must have been evident that he didn't know what Dean was talking about.
"To, you know, remove it?" Dean clarified himself.
"I don't know" Sam answered honestly. "I have more, if we need it. You can try I guess, see what happens? Give your body a break if nothing else?" Sam suggested, knowing it had to feel like hell to Dean.
Dean just nodded his head, as he headed into the bathroom. He wasn't able to lock the door, it was barely even closeable, since Sam had kicked it in. Didn't matter, he had been violated and exposed in every way possible anyhow. He chose to remove the uncomfortable gauze, but didn't happen without pain, and blood. 'damn it!' Dean thought to himself, am I still bleeding? How bad is this?
He didn't remember ever bleeding this bad, no matter what his body was subjected to, the night Sam left for college being the worst, he didn't bleed this bad. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach that something was wrong, something was seriously wrong. He wasn't about to tell Sam. They had a hunt to do and he couldn't do it from a hospital bed, and monster or no monster, he wasn't going to allow his brother to be around that group of people alone.
"Dean, you okay?" Sam asked, concerned that his brother had been in the bathroom for so long.
Dean didn't realize he had gotten lost in thought while sitting there, honestly it was kind of a relief from the pain he had been feeling while sitting, but he couldn't explain that to Sam.
"Yeah." he said as he removed himself from the bathroom, "sorry, got lost in thought." he added as he laid back on his bed.
"How's the bleeding?" Sam asked.
He knew his brother didn't want to talk about it, but he needed to know, he needed to know if he had to watch his brother for signs of too much blood loss. Dean didn't respond, he just closed his eyes, that question made him feel queasy.
"Dean?" Sam repeated, "How's the bleeding?" he wasn't about to let it drop without an answer.
Dean not wanting to answer, not sure how to answer, mumbled "Fine, its fucking fine, hasn't gone anywhere."
Sam shook his head with frustration. Why did his brother have to be so difficult? "So, has it gotten any better? Slowed any?" Sam asked.
"Sam, stop, please." Dean mumbled as a response.
He was laying on top the covers, on his stomach, but had placed his head back at the foot of the bed, near Sam, and the door. Still untrusting of the world around him. But, he couldn't keep his eyes opened enough to really be able to pay attention to much.
"Dean, why don't you get some sleep? We still have a few hours before we'll be able to even think about starting this hunt, I need you rested, especially if you're gonna be watching my back."
Sam had a point, he was right, if Dean was going to protect his brother then he needed to be on top of his game.
"What about you?" Dean mumbled.
"Dude, I'm not as exhausted as you are," Sam answered, "you can't even keep your eyes opened."
He had pointed out the obvious and there was no way Dean could argue with that. Dean's mind was glazed over, unable to work properly, his emotions running around, unchecked. Pain he wasn't able to control, piercing through every inch of his body, it felt like pins pricking him everywhere. Anxiety rising, fear joining in. He must have had some physical reaction to his emotions, Sam had stopped what he was doing at the table and sat beside Dean on his bed.
"Hey," He said calmly as he laid a soft, gentle hand on his brother's back. "It's okay, I'm right here, Dean, I'll be right here, I'm not going anywhere, I'm not leaving."
Dean, without noticing, had pressed his body against Sam's. He had rolled onto his right side, which Sam knew was painful because of the amount of bruising, and had gotten as close to the safety of his brother that he could.
Sam understood, they had been here before, Dean was feeling lost, unsure of what was going on inside himself, and for good reasons. Sam convinced Dean to turn his body so his head was laying on his pillow. Sam placed his pillow in the middle of the bed, giving Dean the sign to not lay on the edge. He had retrieved his pillows from his bed and leaned them against the headboard of Dean's bed.
He sat, beside his brother, the laptop sitting on the table beside them, Sam propped himself against his pillows in a semi sitting position. Dean had curled himself into a ball, under all the covers. The fact he was under all the covers, and his body was trembling, had Sam concerned about blood loss. But, he wanted his brother to rest. Sam had already been creating a plan B in his own mind, one just in case Dean wasn't able to come along, or wasn't able to function once he was in the house. Once again, Dean had pressed his body as close to Sam's as he could.
"Dean," Sam begun, "it's okay to be scared right now, you know that, right? It's okay to not know what you're feeling inside, to be confused. It's okay to feel like you can't do this on your own. But, most importantly, it's okay to need me."
Sam knew his brother better than anyone, he could tell exactly what he was thinking, and feeling. Dean wrapped an arm around his brother's waist and buried his face into his brother's side. He already had his body pressed against him. Tears had started falling, just a few, but still they were tears, for the first time since this happened. Sam had wrapped his arm around his brother and placed his hand on his back, reassuring him that he was there, there for him.
"Sam" Dean's voice was muffled from Sam's side, but he could still understand his words clear enough. "I… I just… I need… to feel… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm sorry I'm not strong enough"
He had turned his head so his face wasn't buried into Sam and his words weren't muffled anymore. "I'm sorry" Dean continued, "I just… I know I'm your big brother, you're supposed to lean on me. I'm supposed to be the one protecting you." Dean's tears started gaining in number.
"Dean," Sam replied, "it's okay, yeah you're my big brother, and that means that as your little brother, I'm supposed to be there for you too."
Dean just laid there for a moment with his eyes closed. "I want… to… I don't want to… move." Dean stuttered out.
"Then don't" Sam replied, he was perfectly fine with the way his brother was laying.
"I… feel… safe, Sam, I want to feel… I do feel… safe, with you… right now" Dean managed to get out what he wanted to say.
"Dean, you are safe." Sam reassured. "I won't let anything happen to you, as long as I'm around, I promise!"
Dean lightly nodded his head as he drifted to sleep. Sam felt a little guilty because the truth was, he did allow something to happen to his brother, because he left him and chose to not be around when he needed him the most.
Dean slept comfortably, like a child, wrapped in his brother's arms. The fact that his brother had gotten the laptop off the table beside him and placed it on his lap, doing some more research, didn't seem to bother Dean at all, it made it a little difficult for Sam, since one hand was wrapped around Dean, but he didn't mind, he would rather make sure his brother felt safe than make things easier on himself.
Sam started to drift off himself, he set his alarm for 9:30pm. He laid his head against Dean's, pushing himself down on the bed, adjusting into a more comfortable position, carefully, without waking Dean, Sam curled his body into Dean's, the way they did when they were younger, and both brothers seemed to rest, comfortably, happily, safely, within each other's arms.
The alarm went off way too soon! They could have both gotten a full night of restful sleep, but they had a job to do.
"You ready for this?" Sam asked Dean.
"Yeah, let's kill this son of a bitch." Dean replied as he made his way to the bathroom.
The fact he returned to the room with his arm holding his stomach didn't leave Sam feeling too good about Dean going on a hunt. He gave his brother an eyebrow raised, questioned look.
"It stopped." was all Dean replied as he carefully sat on the bed to put his boots on.
When the boys arrived at the house, it was obvious they were having a get together, much like the night before, while Dean was there. They gathered what they would need for the hunt, and waited.
"Dean, you sure you want to do this?" Sam questioned, he really didn't want to do this alone, but didn't want to subject his brother to something he couldn't handle.
"I got this." Dean replied, adding, "you just remember we are here to kill the Alp, not any humans."
"But, if one gets in the way?" Sam questioned.
"No" Dean replied.
He was set on the hunt, set on the creature they were after, he could care less about the people inside. The brothers sat in the car, waiting for what seemed like forever, it was at least a couple hours. The silence was uncomfortable, sitting was uncomfortable, talking was uncomfortable. Dean was about to climb out of his skin. He couldn't take much more of this. He was itching for a kill, but also wanting to get as far away as he could.
Finally, people started leaving, the house got dark one light at a time. The main light, the one to the room they were focused on, finally, went dark. They watched it for a little while longer, waiting, knowing she had to start dreaming, watching for any sign they might see.
When they saw flickering through her window, not from the light, more like from something that had entered the room, that was their sign. They snuck around back and through the door, Dean led the way. Sam was just far enough behind Dean that if he got caught they wouldn't see Sam. That's the way they always worked, it went without saying, if they were both caught during a hunt then there was no one left to save them.
The house was dark, pitch black, they were both glad they had scoped it out earlier since they found themselves having to feel their way around. Sam, accidently, knocked over a row of beer bottles, leaving them all to come crashing down, shattering on the ground. Both brothers froze in their tracks.
"Shit!" Dean whispered as he saw movement from the other room, "Sam, go, get this done." Dean whispered as he stood his ground.
Sam noticed the movement as well, he knew his brother was in trouble, they had already noticed him. Dean was standing out in the open, unlike Sam who was behind a wall where no one could see him.
"Well, well, well." One of the male voices said. "Look who came back for more." He added with a chuckle.
"Yeah, came back to finish you off." Dean said with a smirk, as they retrieved the gun from his side.
"Doesn't look like you're doing a very good job at that." Another voice said.
"The night's not over yet." Dean replied.
The man laughed, a full belly laugh. "No, it's not! I wonder what kind of fun we can come up with to finish off the night?" The man had reached down and grabbed Dean's crotch in his hands as he spoke.
Dean had the men's full attention. Sam was able to sneak past them, around the other side and up the stairs without them noticing, they were too focused on Dean to notice anything else. Sam knew, he had to hurry, he had to kill this Alp and save his brother. His brother! He couldn't focus on that right now, he had a task he had to carry out.
Once inside the girl's room he saw the Alp. It was disguised as a female, hovering over the sleeping victim. It's long, drill like claws, ready to dig into her neck, until Sam stopped it, he startled it. The Alp didn't seem too concerned, it just had another body it could feast on. It would go back to the girl, but first had to take care of Sam before he got rid of it. It leaped at him and pushed him to the ground. Sam and the Alp started battling it out. The commotion woke the soon to be sleeping victim.
"Get out of here!" Sam shouted at the girl who had woke.
She was in shock, she wasn't sure what was going on. The Alp had changed shape, changed disguise. It didn't look like a woman anymore, it looked like a pure monster. In the shuffle, it had tried to drill into Sam's neck, it succeeded leaving a wound but missed his artery. Sam was never more thankful. He eventually fought it hard enough, he was on top, holding it to the ground, pulling out the pick and jabbing it in the corner of its right eye. Just the way Dean had said.
Blood came squirting out, faster than what Sam was expecting. He was instantly covered in its blood. But it hadn't died yet, it had to bleed out to die. The girl on the bed was crying and shaking. She still didn't know what was going on. Sam, grabbed the rope he had brought and started to tie the monster up, while he was attempting to explain what was going on.
"Sorry, to just barge in on you like this. It's just, well, my brother and I, this is kind of what we do, we hunt monsters, kill them, save people, you know, kind of like this."
She was even more shocked, "Wh…what is that?" She asked.
"It's an Alp" Sam stated, "it's kind of like a vampire, only it goes after pregnant women, it starts in their dreams."
"So, where's your brother?" She questioned.
"Downstairs, with your lovely friends, that's why I don't have time to wait for this thing to die, I gotta go help him." Sam's voice was panicked.
"Oh, God!" She gasped.
"Yeah." Sam finished tightening the knots, grabbing his bag, and heading out of her room to help Dean. "Come on."
She jumped off her bed and followed him. Once they were down the steps, he pushed her behind a wall, where she couldn't be seen. "Stay here." He whispered, "Don't go back up there, just in case, got it?"
She nodded her head yes, "Hey." She whispered back. "Be careful." she added as Sam gave her another glance and headed to his brother's help.
He wasn't prepared for what he saw. Dean had fought at first but was quickly overtaken by the 6 men that surrounded him. Once they got the upper hand on him, his fear had him frozen. He didn't put up as much of a fight to get away, not the way he did the night before. When Sam entered the room, he saw his brother laid over a table. One person had his left arm, pulling it so far back there was no way it wasn't pulled out of its socket.
The man, on top of his brother, showing no mercy, pounding as hard and deep as he could into his brother. He was holding Dean's right hand down on the table. His left hand, wrapped around Dean's throat, pulling his head back as far as it could go, cutting off all possible air.
Sam wasn't sure, judging by the position of his head, that his neck wasn't broken. Dean wasn't fighting, frozen at this point, possibly from the lack of air. Sam wasn't completely sure his brother was still conscious, it was too dark and there was no sign of movement coming from him. Both of them with their pants around their knees.
Sam knew what Dean had said, but right now, he didn't care. He pulled out his gun, they didn't even know he was there. He let off a shot, splattering the man's brains all over the room. Everyone froze in shock then scattered out of the house, not even waiting to see where the shot came from. Dean, instantly fell to the ground. Sam ran to his side.
"Dean? Dean! You okay? You with me, man?" Sam was scared, until Dean started coughing, gasping for air. Sam's heart settled a little. "Hey man, let's get your clothes back up, okay?" he said as he helped pull Dean's pants back up.
"The… the Alp?" Dean gasped out.
"I gotta go check it," Sam replied, "I stabbed it, I had to leave it tied up, so it couldn't get away, so I could come help you."
"The girl?" Dean, still gasping for air, had rolled onto his knees, curling them under his body.
"I'm right here" She said from behind Sam.
Both brothers were startled and looked up. Dean instantly regaining his composure. Her heart sunk, she recognized him from last night.
"Let's go see if it's dead." Dean suggested as he used his brother to help him off the floor.
His left shoulder was shooting pain down his arm, leaving it unusable. Sam helped Dean stumble up the stairs and into the room, the girl following close behind. When they entered the room the Alp was dead, it had bled out. Sitting in a pool of blood, the same bluish tint of its victims. Lifeless, looking like the woman it had disguised itself as. Dean turned, looked at the girl who was wide eyed.
"Nice friends you keep."
She lowered her head, "Look, I… I don't have much of a choice, not any more than you did." she paused as the tears dripped from her eyes and she made eye contact with Dean.
"You mean, they force you to live like this? To have sex with them? With who they want you to?" Dean asked, his voice full of concern.
"Like some human trafficking thing or something?" Sam added.
She nodded her head yes.
Dean, wrapped his good arm around her, pulling her close to him, she buried her face in his chest. He held her for a moment before speaking again. "Do you want out? Do you want to get away from here? Away from them?"
She was crying into his chest, unable to speak, she just nodded her head yes.
Dean released his grip on her and pulled her back just slightly. "Gather some stuff, we need to get the hell out of here before the cops show up." Dean suggested.
"I don't think you have to worry about that, not with them." she stated but, still, she dried her eyes and hurried to pack a couple bags of belongings.
She wasn't even sure who they were, but they had just saved her life, even if they did seem a bit strange, she wasn't going to question them if they were willing to get her out.
They quickly left the house. She sat in the back seat and the boys in the front. Dean wasn't prepared for the wave of pain when he sat in the seat, it came as a surprise that he was unable to hide the reaction from. Sam noticed it, but being that they had a guest in their presence he didn't say anything.
"Bethany" the girl in the back seat said.
Sam and Dean didn't realize they never got her name. "I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean."
Dean was sitting sideways, holding his left shoulder with his right hand. "You got anywhere you can go?"
"Um, I don't know." She replied. "Maybe, yeah, I can go back home. I haven't seen my mom in several years and I know she's worried about me, and she'll help me with the baby." She rubbed her stomach when she said that.
Dean had a sinking feeling in his stomach, this girl was forced into a situation she didn't want to be in, forced to be with men she didn't want to be with, and has a baby on the way as a result. Sam pulled up to their motel room.
"We gotta get our stuff." Sam stated. "Come on." he motioned to Bethany. "It'll be safer if we stay together until we can get out of this town."
Bethany agreed and quickly followed the brothers into their room. They rushed to gather their belongings so they could get out of town before anyone came after them. It was still dark out, day hadn't broken the darkness yet.
"Dean, need me to pop that back in place?" Sam asked, motioning to his shoulder that he was holding.
Dean just nodded his head yes.
Sam grabbed his arm and with a loud grunt of pain Dean's shoulder was back in place. Sam looked into his eyes, they looked so lost. He was going through the motions but had no emotions. The look he gave Sam, told him not to push him, to leave him alone, he had to finish what they were doing.
To Dean, this hunt wasn't over, it wasn't over until the person they had set out to save was safe. They threw their belongings in the trunk and headed down the road.
"So, where's the nearest bus station?" Sam asked, hoping the girl would have an answer.
"I don't know" she replied, sheepishly, "I wasn't really allowed out, just work, and home. I'm not from here. I don't know much about the towns around us."
"It's okay, we'll figure it out" Sam replied.
Dean remained quiet. He wasn't sure what to say, wasn't sure how to act, what to do.
"You can call me Beth" she said, "that's what my family always called me."
"Okay, then Beth it is." Sam replied.
She was sitting in the back-passenger seat and had leaned forward in her seat, she took both her arms, and wrapped them around the front seat and around Dean's chest. He was startled at first, but only showed evidence of a small jerk. She squeezed him a little tighter when he jumped. Her way of comforting him, letting him know he was okay, she wasn't going to hurt him.
"I could always just hang out with you guys" she suggested.
Dean chuckled a little at that. "You don't want to do that. We don't have a home, we live out of the car, or motel rooms, and well, as you saw, we don't exactly have the safest lifestyle."
"But, maybe I could help?" She questioned.
"No," Dean said, sounding emotionless. "You need to take care of that baby, the road is no place for a little one, trust me I know" He added.
"Dean, right?" she questioned, making sure she got his name right.
He nodded his head yes.
"Dean, I'm sorry." She said.
Dean's eyes closed for a minute, wrinkling his forehead, "For?"
"For, everything, everything that my friends… well you know, everything they did, the way they were."
She sounded truly sorry. Dean lifted his hand, placing it on one of her arms that was wrapped around him, he held onto her arm, in a comforting way, resting his chin on top of his hand.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. You didn't do anything."
"But I could have stopped them, or at least tried" Beth was trying to place the blame on herself but Dean wouldn't have it.
"No, you said yourself, you didn't have a choice, right? If you didn't have a choice, if you couldn't stop them and save your own self then why in the world would you think you could stop them and save someone else?"
Dean made sense, he was right, she knew it, but she still couldn't help but feel sorry for him, feel responsible in some way. Dean had wrapped both his arms around hers intertwining them together. Like, they were holding on to each other, for comfort, for security. She had laid her head on his seat, so that half her head was on his shoulder and half on the seat. He leaned his head over, letting it rest on top of hers. Dean had closed his eyes, not realizing she had done the same. They shared a connection. A connection neither of them wanted but had been given.
"So," Sam spoke up, "Where's home?"
"Kansas." she answered.
Both the brothers were a little shocked to hear that, "What part?" Sam questioned.
"Prairie Village, not far from Kansas City." She replied.
Dean, in a strange way didn't want to let her go. He wanted the hold on to the connection, to the only person who could even begin to understand what he was going through, but he knew he couldn't. Sam pulled up to a bus stop, 2 towns over.
Dean got a ticket using a fake name, giving her a fake name too. He didn't want to leave any trace for anyone to follow. She had told them the company she kept didn't know where she had come from, they wouldn't know where to look for her at. Dean handed her the ticket, then walked away for a moment. Sam stayed with her. They were going to wait until her bus pulled out before they left her.
Dean returned, handing her a paper, with his number on it, also wrapped in it was $500, she was shocked, it had been a long time since anyone has cared about her, especially like this. Hell, she wasn't even allowed to keep her own pay from her job at the bar, she had to give it to them.
"In case you, you know, need someone to talk to or something." Dean said, then added, "and to make sure you're taken care of, have food and help with the little one."
Dean was acting normal, not "Dean normal" but "normal person normal", Sam recognized it, but of course, Beth didn't know him well enough to see it. She was just grateful for someone who cared. She grabbed him, hugging him as tight as she could. Dean returned the hug, holding onto her just a little longer than normal.
"Thank you" she said, looking up and making eye contact with him.
Her eyes were watery, full of tears. Dean's was hidden, glassed over, hiding every emotion he could push away.
"You'll be okay," she said, wiping her soft hand down his face. "You got your brother, you two seem like you can handle anything that comes your way. I really am sorry, for everything, but thank you. Thank you for saving me, in more than one way. You saved me."
She looked over at Sam who was standing near them, then back at Dean. "Now, you have to let your brother save you." she added, wiping the couple of tears that dripped from Dean's eye away.
"You need to go." Sam said gently, hating to break the moment but knowing her bus would be leaving soon.
She gave Dean another long, tight hug and a small kiss on the cheek, quietly speaking in his ear "Let Sam save you, for me, please."
She then turned and gave Sam a quick hug, thanking him for helping her and she hurried on the bus before it left her behind. She sat beside the window, giving the brothers a wave as the bus jerked into drive and she rode out of sight.
