Chapter 9:

Wendigos are strong, smart hunters, and wicked fast. So you need to really be on your toes.

Dean's voice echoed in Max's head as he and Sam led the way into the cave they'd finally come upon, all armed with flare guns, among other weapons. Her heart pounded in her chest at the thought of fighting a nomlie, but she pushed what felt like anxiety into strength as she crept farther into the cave. Her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, carefully looking around for any movement and listening for the slightest sound. When they finally heard it, the growl of something inhumane, each froze in their tracks for a moment before continuing forward.

Just then, a woman's whimpering pleas echoed through the caves before a cry of agony was shouted out. Sam and Dean shot forward, Max close on their heels, starting to smell the scent of decaying flesh, and turned the corner into the deeper part of the cave quickly.

The wendigo caught sight of them and left its prey, furious at having been disturbed, darting around the cave. Dean let off a shot, which slammed into the cave wall a mere foot from it. In the same instant, Max pulled the trigger on hers as well, nailing it in the back. The wendigo went tumbling into the wall of the cave, falling to the ground with a scream as the fire spread through its body.

"Damn," Dean breathed, glancing to Max.

"I'll stand guard," Sam said, motioning for Dean to attend to the victims.

Dean nodded once curtly, going quickly over to them, swallowing hard at the mutilated bodies of several others in the corner and a third dead still hanging from the ceiling. He checked on the woman first, whose breathing was shallow, blood streaming down her left arm from her shoulder, but he let out a grateful breath that her pulse was decently strong.

"We're gonna get you outta here," he told her, meeting her shaky gaze. Dean had a feeling the only reason she wasn't hysterical was because her body was exhausted. He took out a knife and slid an arm around her back to catch her as he cut the rope that suspended her from the ceiling. He carefully laid her on the ground. "Max?" he asked, cutting the rope that bound her wrists.

"Yes, Dean?" she asked, materializing beside him.

"She's losing a little too much blood for my comfort. Can you wrap her shoulder?" he said, glancing to her.

"Yes, Dean," Max said with a nod, taking off her backpack as she knelt at the woman's side.

Dean got back to his feet, going over to the man suspended by his wrists, and saw that he was conscious. "Ted, I presume?" he asked, putting an arm around him as he started to cut the rope.

"Roxie?" he murmured. "She's okay?"

"She's fine. In the hospital," Dean said. He spared a glance to the bleeding woman, who let out a few whimpers as Max wrapped her shoulder. Dean let out a grunt as he took on the man's considerable weight, almost all of which was muscle, doing his best to lower him to the ground slowly. "Bobby Singer called us."

"There's two," Ted breathed.

"Yea, one's dead, my brother's keeping watch for the other," Dean replied, slicing through the bindings. "I'm Dean, that's Sam."

"Huh. Winchester," he muttered, sliding his eyes up to the young hunter.

"Two and only. You hurt?" Dean asked, looking him over.

"No," Ted said with a slow shake of his head.

"Help me out, then?" Dean helped the man to his feet, taking an arm around his shoulder as support, and glanced to his right. "You good?" he asked.

Max finished up what she was doing before she looked up to Dean. "Slowed the bleeding," she said, closing her backpack.

"Alright. Sam?"

Sam came quickly over, handing his flare gun to Max, carefully taking the woman in his arms. She let out a pained whimper at the movement. "It's okay," Sam said quietly. "You're safe. We're gonna get you out of here."

"Who's the rugrat?" Ted muttered.

"Your princess in shining armor," Dean replied. "Let's get going."

"Should I take point, Sam?" Max asked, motioning with her weapon.

Sam pursed his lips in annoyance, but he wasn't about to argue with her though, so he nodded and followed her instead, Dean bringing up the rear.

A low, livid growl echoed through the cave.

"Guess someone isn't too happy about the welcome home gift," Dean muttered, though he didn't slow his pace.

"Prob'ly heard the scream," Ted said quietly. They continued their path back the way they came, the cave's acoustics making it difficult to pin down exactly where the wendigo was from the growl, their only option to keep pushing forward.

Suddenly, a snarling blur came running at them from the front, targeting Max. Sam barely had time to yell out her name before it had already tackled her. His voice caught in his throat when she seemed to almost blur with it, throwing her bent left arm in front of herself, and used its own strength against it. As she hit the ground, Max rolled backwards, throwing it off, smashing it into the wall of the cave, and somehow managing to keep a hold on her flare gun. It had just hit the ground when Max had aimed and fired, and the flare smashed into the wendigo's chest, exploding in a fireball.

"Move out," Max snapped, continuing forward.

"Damn," Ted whispered, trying to support some of his weight.

Dean snorted. "That's what I said."

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Max stared at the television from her cot, which was tuned to the news channel, as Sam got a book out of his duffle and got into bed. She heard Dean turned on the shower and get in and slid her eyes over to Sam, who was flipping to the last page he'd been on. Pursing her lips, she looked back to the television.

After another five seconds, she looked back to him. "Sam?"

Sam glanced up from his book, raising his eyebrows. "Hm?"

Max turned the television on mute, putting the remote aside, and slid her eyes to him. "You said it was a rescue mission. Ted Rollison and another hunter had gone after the two wendigos and his partner had been put in the hospital and he'd been captured."

Sam blinked at her and nodded. "Yea."

"But they had taken another prisoner. A woman. And it seemed like…right away you and Dean knew you were going to help her too. Risk your lives, my life, and the life of the other hunter to take on another P.O.W. Even though you didn't know her."

Sam swallowed and nodded again slowly. "And you don't completely understand."

"It…wasn't our mission," Max said quietly. "It put our mission in jeopardy."

Sam put his book aside and turned to face her. "Max…how do you feel about your friend Zach?"

Max's expression tightened. "He's our leader."

"But…he's also your friend. You would risk your safety to help him. Right?" he asked.

"Of course," she murmured. "He's a fellow comrade."

"I know, Max, but…." Sam let out a long breath. "If you saw someone hurting Zach…what would you feel?"

Max swallowed hard and paused for a long moment. "Angry. And…and scared," she whispered.

"You would want to help him," Sam said. "Not just because he's a fellow comrade or because he's your leader. But because…it hurts you to see him hurt." Max averted her gaze and nodded. "That's called empathy, Max. And it's not a bad thing."

"Emotions cloud judgment," she whispered. "They make you make mistakes."

"Emotions are what make us human," he corrected her. "And I felt empathy for that woman. Even though I didn't know her, as…a fellow human being and…someone who had experienced pain before…I wanted to help her. At Manticore…they tried to teach you it was wrong. To breed that out of you."

"They did," Max whispered, her gaze on her hands. "I didn't…feel empathy for her—."

"They didn't, Max," Sam told her. "Look at me." Max slowly slid her eyes up to his. "They didn't. Because you feel it for Zach. Now you know it's okay to feel empathy. You know emotions aren't always a bad thing. You block them all out, you're blocking out a lot of good stuff too. And for the record…it's always our mission to help people. Okay?"

Max bit her lip hard and nodded. She turned the television off and slid under the covers, closing her eyes, pushing back tears.

Sam stared at Max sadly and tiredly for a long moment before he turned back to his book.