Chapter 7

Sam looked around at the others as morning came to the forest. He had been standing guard for the last few hours so the others could sleep. Dean had taken first watch to let the others sleep. Everyone was moving around trying to get the stiffness from their bodies as they woke up.

"I don't...I mean these types of things they're not suppose to be real." Haley said to Dean.

"I wish I could tell you different, but I can't."

"How do we know its not out there watching us?" she asked looking out into the forest.

"We don't, but we're safe for now. It's less likely to attack us that its light, but we can't let our guard down."

"How do you know about this stuff anyway?"

"Kind of runs in the family." Dean shrugged.

"Hey so we've got half a chance in the daylight." Sam said joining them. "I for one wanna kill this evil son of a bitch."

"Well hell you know I'm in." Dean said. "But are you sure of this? You could take them back and I'll keep looking for it."

"No way I'm leaving you out here by yourself." Sam insisted looking at him like he was crazy. "Look at how many victims he's already taken. You're not going to be the next one if I can help it."

"So tell us what we're up against." Haley said looking from Sam to Dean. She wanted her revenge, just as much as they wanted it dead.

"Wendigo is a Crete Indian word that means Evil That Devours." Sam started showing them the pages in their Mom's journal.

"They can be over a hundred years old and they were once a man, sometimes an Indian or sometimes a frontiersman or miner or hunter." Dean continued explaining to them.

"How does a human turn into these things" Haley asked.

"Well its always the same, some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving and cut off from help and rescue and becomes a cannibal to survive. He eats the other members of his tribe or camp."

"Like the Donner party." Ben said looking to the brothers.

"Probably, good example."

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities, speed, strength and even immortality." Sam explains.

"You eat enough of it over the years you become less than human and more like that thing. You're always hungry and can never seem to satisfy that intense hunger growing in you."

"So if that's true how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asked looking to Dean.

"You're not going to like it." Dean said warning her of the answer.

"Tell me." she stated not wanting to know, but knew she needed to.

"More than anything the Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time. When it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It stores them so it can feed whenever it wants, if your brother's alive, it'll be keeping him somewhere dark, hidden and safe. We've gotta track it back there."

"And how do we stop it?"

"Well guns are useless so are knives. Basically, we gotta torch the sucker." he said holding up a bottle filled with camping fuel, with a piece of cloth stuffed into it.

spn

"Dean..." Sam called to him as he looked at the trees with scratches gouged in them that they had been following for a while.

"What is it?" Dean asked stopping beside him.

"Look at those scratches on the trees." he said pointing to the marks. "I was thinking those claw marks are so clear they're almost too easy to follow. It's like we're being lead."

Loud growling and a scream rang through the trees as they clustered together trying to see it. The brothers just caught a glimpse of a blurry figure speeding by the edges of the trees before Haley screamed in fright. They look up to see a dead body suddenly fall from the tree beside them.

"Dude his neck's broken." Dean said turning Roy over and seeing the odd tilt of his head. "Run! Run! Go! Go!" Dean yelled to everyone as he pushed Haley and Ben in front of him and they start running through the woods.

spn

Haley tripped over a root and fell and Sam stopped to help her up. They began to run the way Dean and Ben went when Dean's shout of anger and then pain have them faltering in their steps for a moment. Sam grabbed Haley's hand and headed toward the sound. When they got there all they found was the bottle Dean was carrying broken on the rocks, but no signs of Dean or Ben.

"Ben!" Haley cried out franticly looking around. "Ben!"

"Dean!" Sam yelled as he tried to control his panic. He knew they had been taken by the Wendigo, he just didn't know to where. "We need to start looking around. We've got to find its trail."

They fanned out from there looking for anything that might lead them to where Dean and Ben were taken. Haley finally spotted something among the leaves and stooped to pick it up.

"Sam they went this way." she said excitedly holding out an M&M.

"Better than bread crumbs." Sam chuckled seeing Dean was being resourceful.

"Looks there's more over here." she said pointing to others that were scattered further down the trail.

They quickly followed Dean's bread crumbs of M&M's until they came to an old mine entrance. Sam looked at the place and saw some broken boards that would allow them to enter the place. He pulled out a flashlight and slipped into the dark, dank mine. Haley stayed close behind him as he slowly made his way deeper into the shaft. He heard growling and shuffling of feet and pulled Haley into a crevice, clamping a hand over her mouth so she wouldn't scream. They froze as the Wendigo shuffled by them and headed out of the mine. Once it was gone, Sam and Haley moved down the shaft that it came from trying to find Dean and Ben. Cracking and creaking made them stop and without warning, they fell through a boarded up opening into another tunnel below them.

"Haley are you okay?" Sam groaned as he pushed himself to a sitting position accessing his body for injury.

"I think so." she replied wiping dirt from her face and crying out when she saw the skulls and bones littering the floor.

"Hey its okay." Sam assured her as he looked around the place thinking this must be where he fed. "Dean!" he cried out when he saw the two bodies hanging from a rafter.

"Ben!" Haley sobbed loudly, when she saw where Sam was looking and saw her brother.

"Dean...Dean, hey man...you okay." Sam asked patting his face until Dean jerked awake. He groaned and grimaced in pain. "Hold on I'll get you down." he said cutting the rope and holding Dean up and supported him as he doubled over in pain. "Talk to me, you okay?"

"I'll get back to you on that. Where is it?" Dean hissed cradling his ribs as Sam guided him to the floor.

"Out, we're safe for now."

"Go help the kid."

"Right." Sam nodded and went to cut Ben down.

Haley looked back into the shadows of the cave and saw another body hanging there. She squinted to get a better look and stumbled toward the body. "Tommy?" she gasped in shock. "Oh Tommy." Haley sobbed as she reached to touch his face thinking he was dead when he suddenly sucked in a harsh breath. "Tommy, you're alive." she cried out in relief. "Sam, cut him down."

"I'm coming." he said, hurrying to her side. He cut him down and let Haley and Ben take care of him so he could go back to check on Dean.

"Check this out Sammy, flare guns." Dean said holding up the guns. He turned when an angry howl sounded down the tunnel shaft. "Looks like someone's home for supper." he said as the howl died away. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah I think so." Sam said.

"Alright listen to me, stay with Sam he's gonna get you out of here." Dean told them as he handed Sam a flare gun.

"What are you going to do?" Haley asked only to get a smirky look from Dean as he winked at her before heading down a tunnel. "It's show time you freaky bastard. That's right bring it on baby! I taste good!" Dean yelled as loud as he could hoping to draw the Wendigo away from the others so they could get out of there.

"Alright come on hurry." Sam urged, pushing them in the other direction hoping to find a way out.

"Hey you want some white meat bitch I'm right here!" Dean continued to yell hoping it was taking the bait, him.

spn

Sam quickly led the others toward what he hoped was the entrance as he listened to Dean's voice getting fainter. They moved down a shaft at a fast pace until the screams of the Wendigo made Sam pull up to a stop holding his arms out to stop the others.

"Haley take your brothers and head that way." Sam told her knowing he had to give them a chance to get out.

"No Sam, what about you?"

"I'll be fine, now go hurry!" he ordered fiercely as he headed toward the noises of the monster.

Haley and Ben half carried Tommy between them as they rushed down the tunnel away from Sam. She didn't want to leave him, but she had to get her brothers to safety.

spn

Sam ducked around a corner and cocked the flare gun, waiting for his chance to kill the monster. He pressed into a crack and listened for it to come his way. Sam held his breath hoping he could end this before anyone else got hurt, especially Dean. Heavy breathing on the other side of him had him slowly turning his head. A deep, dangerous growl alerted him that the monster was right on him. He lunged from the crack and fired the flare gun, missing the Wendigo, but making it retreat. Sam fled down the tunnel, catching up to the others and urging them on.

"Go! Go! Hurry!" Sam yelled trying to push them faster. Sam pushed Ben to the side and shouldered Tommy to drag him along faster. They ducked down another side tunnel only to find a dead end and they were trapped. "Get behind me." Sam told them as he used his body to shield the others to try and protect them.

They all stared in fright as the Wendigo's growls moved closer to them. Sam knew he didn't have anything to defend them with and prayed that Dean would get to them in time before it was too late. He watched in horror as the Wendigo stepped closer raising its razor sharp claws getting ready to attack. A sharp pain ran through his head for only a moment making Sam wince with the pain. Not knowing why he was doing it, Sam raised his hand and focused intently on the monster and saw it. He could see the shriveled, dark soul inside of him and slowly brought his fingers together in a fist and squeezed hard. The monster faltered in his tracks and screamed in pain as Sam concentrated on destroying his soul. He could feel the sharp pain building in his head and felt something wet on his lips but he didn't stop.

Dean ran up and saw Sam holding the Wendigo off and saw blood running from his nose. He didn't know what to think but quickly acted. With a clear shot, Dean took it sending the flare into the Wendigo's chest. Fire erupted in the rib cage and began to spread throughout its body as it roared in anger and pain. He stumbled away, but couldn't escape the fire burning inside of him. It consumed his body in hot red streaks as it started to crumble into ash until it was completely burned up and gone.

"Not bad huh?" he beamed looking at the others. "You okay Sammy?" he asked moving to his brother who slumped sideways and grabbed the wall. He wiped his face and saw the blood on his hand and grimaced as the headache built.

"Just a headache." Sam mumbled wondering what he had just done.

"Look at me." Dean insisted grabbing his face and turning it so he could see into his eyes. He took his sleeve and wiped the smeared blood from his face and saw his eyes were clear. "We'll talk about this later." he mumbled being sure he heard him. Sam nodded yes and Dean released his face. "What's say we get the hell out of here."

"I'm all for that." Haley said getting on one side of her brother while Ben got on the other to help him out of the mine.

spn

Dean leaned against the Impala as he watched Ben and Sam lie their heads off to the cops about being attacked by a huge grizzly bear. He smirked at how easy it was for Sam, just like old times. He was deep in thought about what he saw Sam do in the mine, but was interrupted when Haley spoke to him.

"So really I don't know how to thank you." Haley said as she walked up to him smiling sweetly.

Dean looked her over and arched his eyebrows thinking he could name a few ways.

"Must you cheapen the moment?" she chastised him with a laugh.

"Yeah." he said giving her a Dean Winchester smile.

Haley laid an arm on his and leaned close to kiss Dean on the cheek. "I hope you find your Mom." she said softly before turning to leave when the ambulance driver said they were ready to transport her brother. "Thanks Sam." she said as she pasted by him on her way to the ambulance.

"Man I hate camping." Dean stated as they watched it drive away.

"Me too." Sam agreed.

"Sam you know we're gonna find Mom right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, but in the mean time I'm driving." Sam said in a determined voice.

Dean let's out a sigh as he tossed the keys for the Impala in the air for Sam and watched as he snagged them in one quick motion and went around to the driver's side to get in. He smiled to himself as he dropped into the passenger seat, but grimaced from his injuries until he got positioned where it didn't hurt. Sam dropped behind the wheel and cranked her up, smiling as he pulled memories of the past up. He was always able to find refuge and comfort inside the Impala as he grew up. He knew Dean called her his Baby, but Sam saw her as second home too. He might not have traveled as much in her as Dean, but it still felt good to be behind the wheel and drive her. Sam pulled away from the ranger station and headed toward the interstate. He wasn't sure where they were going, all that matter to him was finding their Mom and getting some answers to the questions he had. And after what he did in the mine, there were a lot more questions that needed answering now. He knew Dean wasn't going to let what happened go and prepared himself for the interrogation that was to come.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the read. Thank you to all who have followed, favored and left me reviews. So Sam's powers are coming out and he doesn't understand any of it. Will their Mom have the answers he's looking for? Reviews are welcome. NC