A/N: Over-thinking is my worst enemy. I have been angsting and angsting over this chapter. I wrote he beginning about seven times and I got to a point and Sam would not move. He just stood there, glaring at me. I finally listened to what he wanted, thanks to some helpful poking from TraSan, Merisha and Tree. Thank you all for sticking with me on this one and thank you to Merisha and TraSan. There is a lurking movie quote, for those geeks out there to find.

A/N II: No bats were harmed in the writing of this chapter, only bat-like creatures with evil intent. (Remember you asked for bats, Supernaturalbuffy!)

Scream of the Butterfly

Chapter Nine

The scent of old bones, decaying flesh and dust was filling the air, the smell intensifying the horror threatening to overwhelm Sam. His eyes were riveted to the ancient mummy in front of him. There were faint traces of something red smeared over the dried skin, adding dark smears to the body. It was curled in a fetal position, laying on its left side, its hand placed in front of it. The skin was plastered to the bones, the flesh having been dried over the many centuries it was buried. The lack of flesh distorted the features, but not enough, not nearly enough because... No, god, please, no.

It was Dean. Then it wasn't. Sam blinked wondering if he'd imagined it, his breath hitching painfully.

"I'm so sorry, Sam," Jeff whispered, staring in horror at the mummy.

Sam glanced around the room, wondering the best way to transport the mummy back to the site. He didn't want to look down and find out he really had seen his brother in the desiccated flesh in front of him. He spotted a brown tarp tucked in one corner, walked over and grabbed it, hoping that, with the blanket, it would be enough to get the body back safely. There was no way he and Jeff could carry the huge wooden box all the way back to the dig.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Jeff's litany continued.

The words trickled into Sam's brain. "Sorry? What do you have to be sorry for?" He turned on the man. "What did you do?"

"I... Sam, I'm sorry."

"What did you do?" Sam asked, feeling desperation and worry starting to boil onto something else.

Jeff was shaking his head, caught in a repetition of "sorry," completely unaware of Sam's growing anger.

"What did you do?" Sam demanded and grabbed the other man, tossing him against the shelves on the far side of the room. "What did you do?" He shook Jeff hard enough to slam the man's head against the shelves.

"I didn't know this would happen, Sam!"

"What did you do?" Sam's voice slid into an icy rage.

"I..." Jeff gasped as Sam shook him again, his fists white knuckled in Jeff's shirt. "Sam, I..." He took a breath. "I didn't know!"

"Didn't know what?" The rage had turned into something else, calm, collected. Dean had once called it "scary Sammy mode."

"That this would happen!" Jeff hung limp in Sam's hands. "I'm so sorry."

"Jeff," Sam growled. He closed his eyes, trying to regain control, this wasn't helping. Taking a slow breath, he opened his eyes and met Jeff's terrified look. "What?"

"I'm sorry."

"What's going on?" Yellowhair asked from the door. "Stinks in here." He walked casually over to Sam and Jeff and laid a hand on Sam's arm. There was more strength in the man's hand than his appearance let on, and he tightened his hand enough to make Sam release his hold on the archaeologist.

"I didn't know." Jeff was close to sobbing.

"Know what?" Yellowhair said, looking from Jeff to Sam.

"That this would happen," Jeff said.

"That what would happen?"

"This! All of it! We tried to stop them!"

"Wait," Sam said, holding up his hand. "Stop what?"

"Destroying the site!"

"What did you do?" Sam asked.

"Sabotage?" Yellowhair said mildly, his eyebrows up. "I heard about that. There was some at another site, a patch of private land up by Farmington. Group of locals claimed responsibility. They haven't caught the individuals, yet, but they are looking. They ruined a couple of bulldozers. Funny thing though..." He frowned.

"What?" Sam turned to him.

"Development was stopped anyway. They found some artifacts that were enough to order a halt on the project." Yellowhair was looking at Jeff with a steady appraising look.

"And we thought that would work this time! Nothing else had," Jeff said.

"Nothing else? The accidents! Did you do that?" Sam grabbed Jeff again.

"Not all of them."

"What accidents?" Yellowhair asked.

"The transit, I did that, and the rattlesnake, only little things! I swear! But nothing worked!" Jeff shouted, shoving Sam away. "I knew he was there! When none of the other finds worked, I 'found' the mummy, hoping it would stop everything, but it backfired."

"You're an archaeologist, Jeff," Sam said.

"I am, and I've worked on a lot of digs. Most without burials, they are rarer than people think, but usually things slow down, rather than speed up when human remains are found. That didn't happen. As soon as he was uncovered..." Jeff ran a shaky hand over his face. "Things started happening, the more we excavated, bad things. I was torn, I wanted to leave the body in situ, but Rich thought he would be safer here, and I agreed. I didn't know! I never realized, I mean there were stories, but I never thought they were..."

"True?" Sam asked.

"How could I?"

"Many of our young people don't believe in things beyond them, and even if they say they do, they don't really." Yellowhair sighed sadly. "Balance needs to be brought back."

"We need to get back," Sam said softly. It's taking too long. He turned back to the mummy and carefully wrapped the tarp around the body, a bone snapped somewhere under his hands and he winced, that fleeting glimpse of the mummy of Dean-not Dean gave him a connection to the body he didn't expect. Picking up the mummy, he cradled it gently against his chest and turned to the door, wondering how long it would take to run back with his burden.

"Wait," Yellowhair called when Sam was halfway out the door.

"It's taking too long," Sam said and kept going.

"Driving back would be faster than walking, don't you think?" Yellowhair caught up to Sam as he left the building.

"What?"

"I'll drive you back. You are returning him to his place, it will stop the illness and evil that is there. I want to help."

"Thank you." Sam followed the man to his vehicle and climbed in the bed of the pickup, unwilling to leave the bundle in the back where it could get damaged. Jeff stopped beside the truck for a moment, then climbed into the cab. Sam took a deep breath trying to calm himself, the archaeologist wasn't to blame for what had happened.

Yellowhair pulled out of the lot and headed back towards the site, taking the turn onto the dirt road far faster than Dean had in the Impala. God, Dean... Sam knew they had to get the mummy back to the dig, but he hadn't really figured out how to accomplish that. Now that he had nothing to do but wait, he was getting worried about what would happen when they reached the canyon. The storm had been consuming the area when they'd left and it would have been getting worse while they were gone.

The fleeting resemblance to Dean was haunting him. Even for them, it was a stretch to believe he'd seen Dean in the mummy's face. That was a little beyond the scope of possible, but if he had, god, what did that mean? His brother had been mumbling about helping or asking if something would help. A realization hit Sam so hard he was sure his heart skipped a beat. Dean, if you did what I think you might have done. He'd waited until Sam was gone and then... And then what? What did you do? The fury he'd directed at Jeff was suddenly anger with his brother. Sam took a deep breath and pushed the emotion away, he needed a clear head to deal with what was coming.

He heard the slider window on the truck open. "Sam! Look!" Jeff shouted.

Sam turned so he could glance in the direction they were heading, blinking as dust blew into his eyes. Gray clouds were streaking across the bright brassy blue sky and curling over the red mesas like the claws of a rabid animal and ahead of them, the black mass was working towards them, slowly blocking the way with a dark wall. Something flashed out of the corner of his eye, Sam looked to his left just in time to see another small explosion against the cliff walls.

"Hurry!" Sam said urgently.

"Yes," Yellowhair answered calmly.

The truck lurched to the right, Sam was thrown across the bed, but managed to protect the bundle from harm as he hit the side of the truck and then slid to the back, slamming into the tailgate. He braced himself against it, with his feet jammed into the wheel wells. His new position let him see clearly what they were heading into, and it wasn't good. It looked like the canyon had been swallowed by the black clouds.

That's when he heard it, even over the rush of wind in his ears, the squeaking call of thousands upon thousands of bats. They were swirling at where the entrance into the box canyon had been, completely blocking the way.

XXX

The scent of sage smoke eddied around Dean, he could hear chanting voices slowly getting closer. His world was changing, the hard bed of the cave floor was different, sharp grass poked the skin of his back and sweat trickled over his scalp like the racing feet of insects. Opening his eyes, he looking up into a sky filled with more stars than he remembered ever seeing. The Milky Way was a bright slash across the sky, the fire beside Dean tossing sparks into the air to join the stars overhead.

"No," he whispered. "Wait."

"You are already here, Dean."

"Where?" Dean swiveled his head to see someone squatting beside him. The man had a necklace of beads, feather and teeth hanging around his neck, his face pained in red and black. "Joe?"

"Yes." He laid his hand on Dean's forehead, his touch surprisingly warm.

Dean heard the call of an animal hunting in the night, the call both familiar and foreign, maybe a wolf maybe something else. Whatever it was, it was on the hunt, its song—and that of its pack—echoed around him. He listened as their call grew excited, there was the scream of an animal in pain and the happy yipping of the pack as it finished its kill. Something trumpeted out in the night and the call of the wolf changed.

A dark cloud moved over Dean's head, the stars growing dark. An icy breeze whipped around him, chilling him. The people's chant altered, getting more intense, the notes almost desperate. Joe rose and nodded at a woman standing in front of the fire.

"No." Dean tried to move, but he couldn't. She walked over, a stone knife in her hand. "Wait, no." Sam? Where are you?

She knelt beside Dean and laid the flat of the blade against his stomach, his lips and his head. Visions began to swim in front of his eyes. Pain was flowing over him, pulling him under as he was turned onto his side. The fight was leaving him, torn away by something beyond his control. He could protect them, keep the evil away. "No," he whispered.

"Stop," Joe said quietly, his voice carrying a calm authority. He shifted Dean onto his back and looked into his eyes. "He who walks with you has a plan."

"What?"

"Sammy, he is almost here." Joe nodded and held up a hand. "We will wait."

Oh, god, Sammy, what are you doing?

XXX

Yellowhair stopped the pickup just before it hit the huge wall of black clouds. Sam stood up and was hit with a blast of wind that threw him out of the truck. He managed to twist so the mummy was protected as he landed on his back, the bundle slipping out of his grasp. There was a small glow by the left side of his head and he turned over quickly, narrowly avoiding the shards as a stone exploded. He got to his knees just as a cloud of bats swirled around him, their angry voices filling his ears as tiny claws began to tear at him. Ignoring the pain and the blood running over his face, Sam bent over the mummy, the attacks increased, until he was nearly blinded by the fury of the creatures. He picked up the bundle and held it close to his chest, trying to protect it from the frenzied attacks.

Lifting his head, he looked at the entrance to the canyon with despair. The way was blocked by the dark clouds and the ever increasing bat-like creatures. The things were diving at him, trying to keep him from moving. He ducked, trying to protect his eyes. Sam heard a noise and something swung through the air above him, the movement accompanied by the sound of small impacts on metal.

"Let's go," Yellowhair said grimly. Sam looked up, the man was armed with a shovel, the blade dripping with foul liquid.

"How?" Jeff was beside the Yellowhair, a jacket pulled over his head to protect him from the bats.

"We go," Yellowhair answered simply and started swinging the shovel like a scythe, cutting a swath through the creatures.

As they got closer to the black wall, the things stepped up their attacks, diving and swirling around them, trying to tug the bundle out of Sam's hands. He staggered under the assault, desperately trying to keep going and protect his eyes enough to see his way through. The black mass pulsed, sending out feelers along the cliffs. One of the bats slipped under Sam's protective arm and started in, holding on to the flesh of his neck with shark claws as it tried to bite at his face. He grabbed it and tore it away, blood trickling down his neck as the attacking creatures shrieked in triumph and moved in for the kill. The dull thuds of Yellowhair's shovel impacting the bodies increased.

"Help him!" Yellowhair shouted over the cacophony. "Do it!"

Sam had no idea what was going on, but a hand closed over his arm and tugged. Sam glanced up long enough to meet Jeff's eyes. The archaeologist smiled feebly. "I know where the burial was, let me lead the way."

Sam opened his mouth the reply and one of the things latched onto his lip. Jeff let out a gasp of horror as Sam tore it off, nodded and bent his head again, protecting his face as much as he could against his shoulder. He kept his eyes open just enough to see where he was walking on the uneven ground. They pushed through the edge of the black clouds, and darkness swallowed them. A tiny, feeble light cast deep shadows on the ground, but it seemed to be enough for Jeff to pick his way through the enveloping clouds.

It became a struggle for survival, the bats were trying to pull the mummy away, trying to gouge Sam's eyes out and trying to block them with a massed attack of their bodies, so the wave of things hits them like the impact of a semi. Sam fell and the creatures were on him in an instant. Yellowhair's shovel brushed across his back and Jeff lifted him back to his feet and they pressed on.

It felt like they had been fighting for centuries, Sam's energy was sapped almost to the point of no return as he stumbled along beside Jeff. His arms ached from shielding the mummy from the creatures and other attacks that had begun as they got further into the canyon. He was trying to keep going but it was becoming too much, his desperate worry for Dean and the effects of the struggle to reach their destination, beginning to take toll.

"Only a little further," Jeff said in his ear. "I know right where we are."

"It will get bad," Yellowhair stated, stopping in front of them.

"Bad?" How can it get worse? The thought was no sooner formed than Sam found out. Pain hit him from somewhere, electric shocks shooting through his body. Jeff was pulled away from him and he was alone in the swirling mass of creatures and clouds. Sorry, Dean, not sure...

"Ten feet to your left!" Jeff screamed.

Sam took a deep breath, ten feet, he could make it ten feet. He took a step and another, one more and he would be there. His legs went out from under him and he fell, turning enough to land on his side instead of the mummy. Once down, he could see the pin flag that marked the burial. He pushed himself up on his knees, cradling the bundle against his chest and crawled to the spot. Balancing on his knees, he unrolled the mummy from the tarp and blanket, setting it carefully into the earth.

The darkness around him paused for the space of five heartbeats, Sam heard them thundering in his ears, then something shivered at the edge of his vision. Terror pulsed in his chest. "Close your eyes!Don't look at it!" he screamed, crouching down and covering his head with his arms. He couldn't believe he'd said that, Dean would laugh. Please Dean, be alive to laugh.

The ground trembled and heat burned along Sam's body. Don't look, don't look. The bats were screeching, their harsh shrieks and the scent of singed flesh filling the air. Don't look. He didn't know why, he just knew that looking up at that moment would be a mistake. The soft rumbling in the earth changed tone, Sam braced himself as the explosion ripped through the canyon. Small rocks fell on his back and the wind of the blast whipped around him.

And it was over.

The silence was so profound, for a moment Sam thought he'd been deafened in the explosion, but a groan from behind him told him differently. It was over. Dean, I'm coming. The sense of relief was huge. They were going to make it. Sam lifted his head so he could stand, and the sense of relief became complete panic.

The cave in the cliffs hadn't opened again, Dean was still trapped behind a solid wall of rock.

To Be Continued