Darin stood looking down. "Hey, kid. Wake up." He jostled Sam, but the boy was out cold.
"Kid, uh … Stan … hey. Wake up."
Sam's eyes opened slowly. He tried to sit up, masking a groan. "Wha…? What's … Dean?" he asked sleepily.
"Nah, big bro ain't here yet, Stan. But he's on his way, okay?"
Sam blinked. He looked surprised to see his brother's friend standing over him.
"What?" The kid didn't seem like he could quite get his thoughts together.
"You gotta come with me. Come on. It's cold as balls out here. We gotta get you warmed up, and your feet are a mess. What the hell happened?"
Sam gradually took in his surroundings. "There were plants before." he said, confused. "What happened to the plants?" He scrubbed his eyes with his fists.
"Toldja." Grady's voice cut in, snide. "Little shit's gonna tell."
The kid suddenly looked terrified. "I won't. I just wanted to get out of the storm."
Darin looked down at the kid with pity. "Well, come on. Let's get you warmed up, then we'll talk, okay? Dean's on his way. Can you even walk?"
"Hunh? Yeah, I can … I can walk." Sam tried to stand, but he looked like he had no feeling at all in his feet. He fell awkwardly back down onto the peat moss.
Grady snorted from the back, but Darin frowned. "Yeah you can. Here, kid. Let me help you, okay?" He reached down and lifted Sam, grasping the boy under his knees and behind his back. He pulled him to his chest and made his way outside to where Wade waited.
"What the hell you doin', man?" Wade exploded. "Make the little shit walk."
"He can't walk." Darin explained. "He tried."
Wade marched up and got in Sam's face. "Tough shit. We sure as hell ain't carrying the little creep around like a princess." He grabbed Sam's arm and yanked, and the kid yelped helplessly as he fell forward and hit the ground at Darin's feet.
"Shit, Wade! What the hell you do that for?" Darin yelled, pissed. He crouched down and placed a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder. "It's okay, Stan. Wade's just an asshole."
"It's S-sam." Sam stuttered, trying to talk over the pain in his feet. "Just, give me a minute and I'll go, okay? I won't tell anyone I was here."
"Sam. That's right, cause Dean calls you Sammy, and you hate it, yeah?" Darin smiled, then sobered. "I think you got frostbite, Sam. I don't think you're going anywhere without help."
Then Wade was crouched down beside them both and grinning evilly into Sam's face. "Yeah, SAMMY. You ain't goin' nowhere unless we help you. So how about a little gratitude, you ungrateful little shit?" And he reared back and clocked Sam across the face.
Sam gasped as the slap jarred him from his head to his aching toes. Tears ran unbidden down his face as he glared up at Wade. "Dean's gonna kick your ass, Wade."
Wade smirked. "No he ain't cause you ain't gonna remember any of this to tell him, asshole." Wade stood and gestured to Grady. "Grab his arm."
With Wade on one side and Grady on the other, they lifted Sam to his feet. He tried to stifle the groan of pain that shot up his legs as the two dragged him to the waiting truck. Wade was especially hateful and went out of his way to drag Sam's damaged feet over every rock and mowed corn stalk that littered the way. At the tailgate, they lifted Sam unceremoniously and tossed him into the truck bed like a bag of discarded trash, and Sam couldn't muffle the scream of pain that was wrenched from him as his already battered body made hard contact with the frozen metal of the truck.
Darin felt a little sick as he climbed up over the tailgate and settled himself beside the kid. He pulled off his own coat and draped it over Sam, then he pulled the kid's head into his lap to make the ride back to Wade's house more bearable. Knowing Wade, Darin was sure the ride back through the cornfield was going to be as rough as possible.
###
Sam was in agony. Every muscle, every bone in his body hurt from the ride back to Wade's house. Wade apparently couldn't drive. Either that or he was deliberately trying to throw Sam and Darin from the truck. Even with the older boy bracing them with arms and legs, they were both tossed from one side of the bed to the other. Once they'd stopped, Darin had jumped from the truck, yanked Wade from behind the wheel and downed him with a fist to his ugly face. Sam was fading in and out by that time, but when someone jumped back up into the bed with him, he had the presence of mind to flinch. He was relieved to see it was Darin.
"Come on, Sam. Time to get you some painkillers and get you fixed up. Dean should be here soon. Just hang on until then, okay? You know big bro will take care of Wade."
Sam studied Darin with watery eyes. "He's really coming? You're sure?"
Darin smiled. "Called him myself, Sam. I promise. He's on the way."
Sam sighed. "Okay." He allowed his eyes to close for just a moment.
Darin hiked the boy up into his arms and strode purposefully toward the front porch, but Wade stopped him. "Not in the house, you dick. Take him to the garage." Wade's voice sounded wounded, and secretly, Sam rejoiced.
Darin stopped, "The garage? What the hell, Wade? You got heat in there?"
"Got enough. Come on." Wade led the way into the tiny garage that was barely big enough to fit one subcompact. "Mom's gone for the day. It's just us." He tossed a gym mat onto the floor and nodded toward it. "Put him down there." He moved to the workbench and back. "Here." He said,
Handing Grady and Darin each a mask.
"What's this?" Darin frowned. It looked like the masks doctors wore in the hospital.
"Dad uses them to avoid breathing in pollen and stuff when he mows the grass." Wade explained. "They're filters." He pulled his own into place and gestured to Grady. "Hold him."
Darin took a step toward Sam. "What are you doing?"
Wade rolled his eyes. "The kid's in pain, right? Well, only thing I got to help him is herbs, man. Mom don't keep pills in the house." Wade stepped back to the workbench and came away with a lighter and a stalk from the odd plant out.
"I haven't tried this stuff yet, but it's supposed to make you feel pretty good." He explained, stooping down in front of Sam and holding the lit flame beneath a single green leaf. "Plays hell with your short-term memory too. At least, I hope."
Sam tried to edge backward, eyes huge, but Wade nodded to Grady, and the boy grasped Sam firmly by the shoulders and held him in place.
"Nuh … don't!" Sam begged, trying to scuffle backward.
Wade snorted, holding the smoking weed right under Sam's nose. "Breathe there, Sammy. Breathe nice and deep for me now."
"Wade!" Darin reached for the lighter. "Knock it off. The kid's 12!"
But Wade reached out with a booted foot and kicked his friend painfully in the thigh. Darin went down hard, writhing in pain. He wanted to help Winchester's kid brother, but Wade had kicked him too high, and all Darin could do was hold his parts and roll around on the floor in agony. He watched through streaming eyes as Wade and Grady forced Sam to inhale the smoke from the noxious weed.
