Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or its characters. I and am not making any money on this…I'm just having fun!

Travelers Beware

Chapter 9 – Confession

He heard Sam yell that he knew what it was and how to handle it, but then he heard his brother's scream followed by an unnatural quiet. "SAMMY!" Dean screamed into the phone, but all he heard was silence.

Dean quickly put his cell phone back in his pocket and turned to Rusty. "Ok Rusty, whatever happened to you has now happened to my brother. I need to know exactly what happened after you saw the lights."

"I told you son, one minute the cabin was there with this little guy. He never said anything, but believe me, there was no way that I was going to stay around with him in the cabin…his eyes…well, they were pure evil."

"Did he hurt you Rusty, threaten you?" Dean was going out of his mind. Leave it to Sam to run right into whatever was out here killing people. He needed to figure it out and fast before Sam became the next victim.

"Well, no…I mean, he broke a freakin' log like it was a toothpick in front of me. After that, I didn't want to wait around to see what else he could break. The next thing I remembered I was at the bottom of a cliff. No cabin, no little man, just a wolf who wanted me for his next meal." Rusty shook his head. "If the same thing happened to your brother, we will be running out of time soon. Did your brother tell you where he was?"

Dean shook his head. "No, but he mentioned a stream and going uphill…any ideas?

Rusty snapped his fingers. "Yep, I might…come on Dean; it's going to take us a good part of the day to get to the stream. Then maybe we can pick up his trail." Rusty didn't wait for Dean as he headed off into the woods.

Dean hurried after Rusty, hoping that the man was right. From what Rusty described, Sam sounded like he was in serious trouble and once again, it was his fault. He knew that evil was attracted to the kid…he never should have left him alone. "Hold on Sammy…I'm coming…" Dean muttered as he picked up his pace to keep up with the old man.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Sam blinked and wearily opened his eyes. His head was pounding and his vision was fuzzy. Reaching behind his head, Sam felt a wet spot. "Great…well, if I didn't have a concussion before, I'm sure to have one now." Sam closed his eyes and fought against the nausea that had started as soon as opened his eyes.

Sam forced his eyes open again and tried to figure out where he was. He looked around and appeared to be on a narrow ledge, part way down a cliff. He shook his head, as he realized that he had fallen off the cliff above. "Damn it! I let the bastard fake me out…what else could go wrong!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he felt a sharp pain in his leg as he tried to straighten it. Sam slowly sat up, wincing as the wounds in his chest and shoulder reminded him that he had already been in bad shape before the fall. He looked down at his leg and sighed as he saw that it appeared to be broken. Fortunately, the bone hadn't broken through the skin…but from the bruising and swelling, Sam knew he was in worse trouble.

Sam closed his eyes, it was almost too much. He knew that Dean was looking for him, but just once, he wished that he could get himself out of trouble. His whole life it seemed like he got into messes and had to wait for Dean to get him out. Even when Jess had died, it had been Dean that had pulled him from the burning room and it had been Dean who had helped him get over her death.

Sam shivered as his mind wandered over his life so far. Ever since the Demon had told him that he had plans for Sam, he had felt like he had this large target on his back. Evil was drawn to him and because of it, anyone close to him suffered.

"You going to just lay there and die?"

"Dean" Sam whispered, his fevered eyes searching desperately for his brother. "I'm so tired Dean…just want to sleep."

"If you have a concussion, you need to stay awake. Stay awake Sam…you can do it."

Sam once again sat up and looked at his leg. He searched his surroundings and saw that if he could make it down a bit further, there appeared to be a stand of trees and brush. "Ok Dean…I'll try." Sam began the slow process of dragging himself down towards the woods.

As the sun began to dip below the cliff above him, Sam finally reached his goal. Sitting up against a tree, he found some smaller limbs. Moving slowly, he managed to tear the bottom off his shirt. Using the wood and strips of cloth, Sam managed to splint his broken leg. "Ok Dean…now to start a fire." Pulling together what he would need, Sam soon had a small fire burning.

He shivered again and looked back towards the top of the cliff. Shaking his head, he finally gave in to his body's need and fell into an uneasy sleep. He never heard the soft rustling or see the pale yellow eyes that were watching him.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Dean and Rusty had found the stream as the sun began to set. Dean was amazed at how quickly the old man had been able to move once he had figured out a direction. As they stopped, to take a quick break, Dean's eye spotted a mark on the boulder that Rusty was leaning against. Moving closer, Dean smiled. "That's my boy…Rusty, Sam was here!"

Rusty looked to where Dean was pointing and smiled. "Smart boy…I wonder if he left any other marks that might tell us where he is headed." Rusty got up and started to take a closer look around. Dean took a quick look around and started up the hill. "He went this way."

"How do you know that boy?" Rusty asked as he quickly started to follow Dean.

"Sam told me…the mark is a code we developed. Believe me, he went this way." Dean started to head uphill once again. After an hour of climbing, Dean had found a few more marks and had even seen some of Sam's tracks. He could tell from the way Sam was moving that his brother was hurt, which worried him even more. Dean felt Rusty tug at his arm as he turned to once more head up the hill.

"Dean, we need to find a place and spend the night…I know you want to get to your brother, but you won't do him any good if you step wrong and hurt yourself in the dark. We can start out again at first light, besides in this darkness we could walk right by him and miss him." Rusty watched the warring emotions in Dean's face.

Dean knew that Rusty was right. Besides, he had been going now for 48 hours with no sleep and his body was telling him that if he didn't rest soon, it would force the issue. "Fine, but we head out at first light."

A short time later Rusty had found them a spot where they could set up camp. He pulled supplies from his pack and started to make pork and beans over the fire. As he handed Dean a plate, he noticed that Dean kept looking up the mountain, as if he could sense that his brother was somewhere near. "Dean, look son, you need to eat and get some sleep. I'll keep the first watch."

Dean sighed as he fiddled with his food. He thought how hungry Sam must be right now, almost 48 hours with no food, maybe no water and injured. It was all Dean could do not to start looking again. "This is all my fault. I never should have left him alone." Dean said quietly.

"Why? Is your brother mentally challenged?" Rusty asked as he cleaned the dishes and packed the supplies away.

"Huh…oh, no. No Sam can take care of himself just fine…it's just…well, I've always looked out for him." Dean sat with his back against a tree and stared into the camp fire.

"I can understand, but let me ask you something. Why are you and your brother out here to begin with? I can tell that you know your way around and can handle yourself in this kind of environment, so I can only guess that your brother can do the same. You two obviously aren't just here for the nature tour." Rusty sat back and watched as Dean rubbed his hands, moving closer to the fire.

"No, definitely not the nature tour. Sam and I are reporters. We were hoping to get a story on the disappearances around here…we figured, that we would just camp out and see what happened." Dean sat back, closing his eyes for a moment.

"That's the biggest load of bull I've ever heard…now either you tell me what you are really doing out here or I'm going to leave you and that brother of yours to our friendly ET." Rusty knew from the moment he met this boy, that he was more than he let on.

Dean sighed and opened his eyes. If Rusty was going to stay with him and help, the man had a right to know what he might be facing. Besides, Dean needed to give him a gun with silver bullets. "Well, you probably won't believe this, but my brother and I…well we hunt things, things that most people don't believe exist. Vampires, Demons, Werewolves, things that hurt or kill innocent people."

Rusty snorted. "So you are like Ghost Busters?"

Dean smiled. "Well, not exactly…we don't have the cool Ghost Trap thing and we definitely hunt more than just Ghosts…"

Rusty sat back and looked at Dean. He was a good judge of character and he knew when someone was lying to him. Dean appeared to be telling him the truth. "So what are you hunting here?"

"We think it might be a werewolf causing the problems…you said you saw a wolf with yellow eyes. So this man you saw, may have changed into a werewolf after you fell off the cliff. The victims all have the signs of a classic werewolf attack." Dean thought back to Sam's objection that there might be more going on. He wondered if maybe Sam had been right. Maybe he should have let Sam do some more research.

"Werewolf huh? Well I'll be…but if that's true…wouldn't I be a werewolf now? I mean, I was bitten more than once." Rusty turned to look around, suddenly realizing that he was going up against something he had no clue on how to kill.

"That's the part that doesn't fit…Sam tried to tell me that there might be more to it, but I wouldn't listen. Like I said this is all my fault." Dean stood up and reached into his pack, pulling out another gun that was loaded with silver.

"But one thing I do know…if it is a werewolf or some type of shape shifter…this will do the trick…a silver bullet to the heart." Dean handed the gun to Rusty and sat back down.

"And if it's not a werewolf, what then?" Rusty asked.

"Then we improvise…" Dean said as he closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.

TBC

Raven524: So we now have the boys almost together, but not quite. And the mystery still deepens as to what is hunting them…the only sure thing is that Sam and Dean are in for some more angst as this story moves on. Thanks again to all of you who have reviewed...I appreciate hearing from you all.