Chapter Seven
Sam smiled when he felt fingers carding through his hair. Dean. It must be him. Only Dean would do that. Ever since Sam was little, whenever he was scared or sick or just upset, Dean would run his fingers through Sam's longish hair to sooth him.
Opening his eyes tiredly, Sam gasped and shifted backwards in shock and fear.
It wasn't Dean.
It was Lucifer.
Sam hit the brick wall behind him and raised his uninjured hand out before him in a warding-off gesture.
"Get away from me!" the young man demanded, "Don't touch me!"
The fallen angel lowered his hand, a sympathetic expression on his vessel's face.
"Don't be afraid of me, Sam," Lucifer said in a surprisingly gentle voice.
"Leave me alone!" the young man snarled as menacingly as he could manage.
"You do not have to continue on like this," the angel spoke as though Sam hadn't said a word, "I can help you."
Sam shook his head, his heart pounding in his chest and his head swimming. He felt like he was going to be sick.
"I know you are in pain," Lucifer pressed onwards, "You do not have to be."
Sam closed his eyes tightly.
"Why do you insist on denying me? There is nothing for you here," the Devil said, "These hunters do not care about you, your own brother has abandoned you-"
"Don't you talk about Dean!" Sam snapped, his eyes opening, glaring at the angel before him.
"I understand, Sam," Lucifer said empathetically, "I too had a brother who betrayed me."
"Shut up!" Sam snarled, "I don't want to hear it!"
The Devil looked at him sadly, "I am not the villain I am made out to be. Perhaps in time you will realize that."
To Sam's surprise, Lucifer stood and turned away from him. The young man stared as the angel walked away from him. Sam sank into the mattress and closed his eyes as nausea and pain flared in his belly, only to look up once again to find himself completely alone.
Frowning, Sam wondered if the Devil had even really been in the room with him or if he had only been his imagination.
SPN
Dean burped loudly and grabbed the television remote, grimacing as he pulled on the healing gash along his side. The pissed-off spirit of a butcher had nearly cut him in two but he'd survive. It had been tricky though, stitching up his own injuries, usually Sam was the one to do that job. But Dean was pleased with how it had turned out. At least he wouldn't bleed to death.
All he wanted to do now was relax and watch some mindless TV.
Over the drone of a sitcom came the flutter of wings and Dean sighed in exasperation, not even bothering to look up from the television screen.
"What?" he grumbled, bad tempered.
Castiel stepped in front of the television, blocking the screen. Dean scowled and clicked the OFF button on the remote.
"I know you do not know where your brother is," the angel began and Dean couldn't help but roll his eyes, "But I am beginning to grow concerned."
"Uh huh," Dean offered, not really paying attention.
Castiel tilted his head, "Your lack of concern for your brother's welfare is unusual."
"I'm not going to worry about him anymore, Cas," Dean growled, "I told you that. He has to take responsibility for his own actions, I'm not holding his hand any longer."
The angel stared at the hunter for a moment before disappearing in a faint flutter of wings. Dean sighed and sat back against the bed's headboard, grabbing the remote again and turned on the television.
SPN
Sam was afraid to close his eyes. He was afraid he'd be plagued by nightmares if he tried to sleep.
He sat bolt upright on the old, lumpy mattress, counting the bricks in the wall across from him to try and occupy his mind.
He tore his gaze away from the wall and stared down at his damaged left hand, flexing the fingers experimentally. His hand refused to curl into a tight fist and pain shot down the bones of his fingers.
Sighing, Sam leaned his head back and closed his eyes, exhausted.
He looked up when the door opened and Tim and Reggie entered the room. Sam stood up as the two hunters moved towards him.
"Time for a road trip, Sambo," the blond-haired man announced and grabbed the younger Winchester's arm.
"Where?" Sam asked but Reggie cuffed him on the back of the head, "Shut up!"
Sam didn't ask any more questions as he was led down the hallway and through the doorway with its broken 'EXIT' sign. It was dark outside and Sam wondered how bad the case was, for the hunters to be leaving in the middle of the night.
Reggie opened the back of the van and Sam was shoved unceremoniously inside. The door closed with a snap and Sam was plunged into darkness.
Sam moved to the back of the vehicle and pressed himself into a corner so he wouldn't be jostled around. It took him a long moment before he realized he hadn't been handcuffed. Something must really be wrong if Tim and Reggie were beginning to get sloppy.
W
Sam peered tiredly around as the van ground to a halt. It felt as though they'd been driving for hours. He wondered where they were and exactly what they had come to kill.
The back door to the van opened and Sam climbed out into bright, early-morning sunlight. He raised a hand to shield his eyes but Lloyd grabbed his arm and pinned it down.
The burly hunter pushed Sam in the direction he wanted the young man to go and the youngest Winchester stumbled as he caught sight of what appeared to be an elementary school.
The hunters had parked at the back of the school, the van and pickup truck sitting on the outdoor basketball court, the net hovering over the vehicles.
The grounds were eerily quiet and Sam's heart began to beat nervously.
Alma came up beside the young man, her mouth turned down in an unhappy moue.
"I never liked cases involving children," she said, speaking to Sam, "Reminds me too much of what happened to my Robin."
Sam glanced down at the small woman, surprised. He had had no idea as to what had caused her to become a hunter but he guessed that the supernatural death of a child would force anyone to seek revenge.
"I'm sorry," Sam muttered quietly; Alma didn't even look at him.
Tim and Reggie were already at the light blue-painted double doors, the dark-skinned hunter holding a set of bolt cutters. The doors were chained closed, the padlock hanging between the handles.
Reggie cut the chains and they fell to the asphalt with a loud clank. Tim pulled one of the doors open and peered inside.
"C'mon," he gestured Alma, Lloyd and Sam into the building.
The silence in the school building was disquieting. Classroom doors stood ajar and children's backpacks still hung on hooks along the walls.
Sam stared wide-eyed at what looked like the result of an evacuation, "What happened?"
"Some demons decided to have fun with the staff and students here during an assembly," Tim told him grimly.
As though that were the signal, the hunters all pulled out their guns, loaded and ready for inevitable attack.
Lloyd released his hold on Sam and they young man rolled his shoulders for a moment before walking to the nearest classroom and peering inside. Pencil cases and Kleenex boxes remained atop students' desks; the teacher's lesson- written in chalk on the blackboard- remained unlearned.
Sam shivered; it seemed as though everyone had simply vanished in the middle of whatever they had been doing.
A strong hand on his upper arm caused Sam to jump as Tim pulled him away from the doorway.
The blond hunter produced a water bottle filled with blood and shoved it into Sam's hand.
"We're going to the Gym."
The young man glared at the hunter as he twisted the cap off the bottle, dropping it to the tile floor, and lifted the bottle to his lips.
Before he could drink, a blood-curdling scream rose from the far end of the hall and Lloyd and Reggie ran forwards to investigate. Small hands grabbed Sam by the back of his shirt and yanked him into the classroom he'd just been looking at, causing him to drop the bottle of blood where it hit the floor, splattering its contents and rolling towards the row of children's shoes underneath the hooks along the wall.
Sam heard Alma cry out but he couldn't help her. His attacker slammed him into the desks closest to the door and Sam groaned in pain as pain shot through his spine.
The young man glanced frantically around to try and catch sight of his attacker but he saw nothing. Sitting up painfully, he startled when the door slammed shut and the sound of a child's laughter rang in his ears.
"Shit," Sam swore and stood; now he wasn't completely certain they were looking at a demon but perhaps a vengeful ghost.
Sam dove towards the door and narrowly avoided the metal hole-punch as it flew at his head. It smashed into the far wall, dragging children's drawings of their families after it.
Flinging the door open, Sam rushed out into the hall.
"Alma!" he called, "Where are you?"
Sam jumped when he heard a frantic banging coming from the classroom beside him. He yanked on the door handle but it refused to move.
Taking a step back, Sam kicked the doorknob and heard it crack satisfyingly. Trying again, he opened the door and grabbed Alma from the room.
The female hunter's eyes were wide and scared, blood dripping down her chin from a swollen lower lip.
"Where are the others?" She asked and Sam shook his head, "I think they're down the hall."
Alma raked her hair back from her face, "I dropped my gun. Damn it!"
Sam almost smiled; dropping weapons was pandemic with him and Dean.
"I think it's a ghost anyway," Sam said but the female hunter ignored him and headed down the hallway.
Sam followed Alma at a distance. He was tired, his energy already waning. Not surprised though, that was what happened with a diet of water and oatmeal.
"We need salt," Sam told Alma as he came to a halt beside her, the female hunter peering cautiously around the corner.
"I know that!" she snapped and moved forwards, eyes traveling to the red smear on the pale tile floor.
"It's fresh," Alma whispered, mostly to herself.
Sam and Alma walked carefully down the hall, muscles tense for a second attack but they arrived at the gymnasium without incident. Alma pushed the door open and Sam grimaced at the sight of the bloodstained cinderblock walls and wooden floors.
The blood however was brown- old- but the three bodies strewn around the large space were not.
"Lloyd!" Alma cried and rushed into the room recklessly.
Sam remained where he was and glanced over his shoulder at the quiet hallway, wondering where the ghost had gone.
Something much larger than a child's hand grabbed his hair and drew him away from the gym doors. Sam struggled and fought to face his attacker. A bespectacled, whiskered man wearing a dark blue janitor's uniform smiled down at the thrashing hunter.
Sam gasped as the man's eyes turned black and his face was shoved into the cinderblock wall. Sam's nose broke on impact, sending pain coursing through his face and blood spurting down his chin.
"Too bad I can't kill you," the demon sighed, "Father has plans for you."
"Help!" Sam cried out automatically and continued to fight as the demon began dragging him down the hall by his hair.
A gunshot ran out and Sam was released. Sam fell to his hands and knees and the demon-possessed janitor stared down at the growing red spot on the chest of his uniform. The man's mouth stretched open wide, his head tilted back and thick, black smoke poured from between his lips.
The demon smoke swirled up to the fiberglass-tiled ceiling and dissipated in a crackle of lightning. The janitor collapsed to the floor, dying.
Sam looked up at the man's face, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. The janitor's shaking hands raised to his chest, hovering above the gunshot wound.
The young man cried out when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him up; it was Tim.
"We're leaving," the hunter barely spared a glance at the injured staff-member.
"No!" Sam tried to pull himself from the hunter's grasp, "He's still alive! He needs a hospital!"
Tim's hold on Sam's arm tightened like a vice and he began to drag the younger man away.
"What are you doing?! He needs help!" Sam shouted and landed a punch to Tim's jaw with his right fist.
The blond hunter released Sam and the young man staggered over to the janitor, dropping onto his knees and pressing his hands down on the wound.
Sam watched as blood seemed red and warm between his fingers and the man's eyes drew dark with death.
Standing, Sam turned to face Tim, anger boiling in his blood.
"You could have saved hi-" he was cut off mid-sentence by a sucker punch to the face.
Sam's already broken nose sent agony searing through his head and his eyes welled and spilled over with tears. He doubled over in pain as blood splattered onto the tile floor.
Sam glanced up through narrowed eyes in time to see a foot rushing towards his face and dropped, unconscious to the floor.
W
Sam woke slowly. The pain in his face made him wish for sleep again but made it impossible to slip back into unconsciousness.
Sam opened his eyes and found himself staring at the familiar brick walls of his prison room.
The sound of the door opening caused Sam to sit up, his heart beat suddenly racing in his chest.
Tim and Reggie entered the room, both looking as displeased as ever.
Sam lifted a hand to his face and carefully prodded his nose grimacing in pain and at the feeling of dried blood.
"Did you-" Sam began but Reggie interrupted him.
"We destroyed the ghost."
Sam nodded; relieved that at least the spirit would not harm anyone else.
"Lloyd is dead," Tim informed him and Sam looked up quickly, shocked.
"I'm sorry," he said even though he wasn't, not really.
Reggie sneered, "You should be."
Sam's brows furrowed in confusion, "Why?"
"He'd have been alright if you hadn't bothered with the janitor," Reggie explained, "Those few minutes cost Lloyd his life."
Sam recalled Alma's terrified scream upon seeing the interior of the gym and realized that she must have seen her partner injured and dying.
Sam looked from Reggie to Tim, wondering exactly why there were here, what they wanted.
"I had no idea-" Sam started but the blond hunter shook his head, "We don't want to hear your excuses, Sam."
The young man gulped, suddenly afraid.
The hunters grabbed Sam's arms and dragged him up, pulling him toward the door.
"Let me go!" Sam cried, struggling, "It wasn't my fault! It was an accident! Let me go! Please!"
Author's Note:
1. Thanks to Anonymously Gorgeous, anna3311234, 3DBABE1999, cold kagome, angeleyenc, MunkieMagic, jkf340, mandancie, Katlover98, BranchSuper, anon, sarah, L.A.H.H, babyreaper, anna3311234, SPN Mum, Kirabaros, SamDeanLover28, MysteryMadchen, ToxicTenchi, Greyfalcon01 and Guest for reviewing.
2. Thanks to everyone who alerted, followed and favourited.
3. Poor Sammy, things just keep getting worse and worse for him, don't they? Fear not, Dean will soon come to the rescue. Please leave a review!