What doesn't kill you…
…sometimes makes you wish it had.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Supernatural.
Chapter 10
Dean came to a sudden bone jarring halt at the sight before him and then he froze in place as his heart seemed to somehow soar and break in half at the same time.
Sam was on his knees in the few inches of shallow water where the riverbed and bank met in a jumble of rocks and weeds. A discarded flashlight cast uneven shadows across his brother's face but did nothing to hide the utter devastation and disbelief.
Sam was alive.
It was surreal like déjà vu and Dean could feel the hurt he saw in front of him because he had just lived through this moment. He had just seen this and felt this and he almost didn't care anymore because his brother was the one still breathing. A little girl lay dead, clutched in his brother's arms but all he could feel now was relief.
Sam was alive.
There wasn't any warning. It didn't start small like the first few raindrops that made you run for cover or prepare yourself at least to be caught in the icy deluge.
It just happened.
One minute Dean thought he had lost his brother and then he hadn't. Then he was suddenly drowning in the whirlpool of emotions that had been shut away since he had hidden a part of himself in the dark to keep safe.
It was all he could do to just keep breathing.
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His feet seemed to step forward of their own accord and he moved slowly, making sure his light didn't shine directly on Sam's face as the hunter within him took over and moved the beam around checking for another body. Finding none.
"Sam."
The only movement was Sam as he gently rocked the body in his arms. As Dean drew closer he could see the blood, the open chest. Dead eyes.
"It's okay Sam. There was nothing else you could have done." Dean's voice cracked and he tightened his jaw, willed himself to keep control.
He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and felt a surge of strength, felt the connection that he had denied himself for so long, felt the anger and sadness and need to protect. He wanted to tell Sam that he was here, really here but the words failed him as his brother looked at him heartbroken and lost.
Suddenly afraid, suddenly aware of where they were, Dean bit back on the words. He moved his hand away.
"I…I k…killed her." Sam brushed a strand of hair from the girls face as tears streamed down his face. "She held m…my hand Dean, trusted me and I shot her."
"She was already lost Sam. It was too late for her, for her family. Not your fault."
"Dean…can't, can't do this."
"C'mon, we need to get out of here." Dean gently lifted the girl from his brother's arms and placed her on the bank before retrieving the discarded rifle. His brother hadn't moved and Dean gripped and steadied Sam by the arm until he stood. They were too exposed standing here like this, especially when he couldn't figure out what was happening.
"Are you hurt?" Dean held his breathe a little even though he couldn't see any sign of blood or injury in the dim glow of the flashlight. Or teeth marks.
"Sam?"
Not even raising his eyes, Sam shook his head distracted.
"Listen to me okay. I need to know if there was another wolf, I heard two shots Sam. Was there another one?" Dean spoke gently not sure if he was getting through until his brother shook his head again.
"N…no."
"I don't like this, we need to get back to the cabin. I'm not sure…"
"Where's Michael?"
Dean breathed and willed himself to speak. "Dead. His mother too. They both turned and I…"
Sam met his eyes briefly and nodded understanding.
"Sam you need to take this in case." Dean held the rifle out after checking there were still unspent rounds loaded. "I don't know where Adrian is but we need to be ready. I don't think this is over."
Sam hesitated long enough for Dean to wonder whether he was going to accept the weapon. Dean paused before he released the cold metal to his brother's grip, hating the fact he knew Sam wasn't up for this right now. Not really sure if he was either.
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It was like his head was too full and he focused on trying to breathe. He had to push this fear aside for the moment until they were safe. It was hard to concentrate though, especially when it was so easy to imagine her breath on the back of his neck as they moved through the forest. He didn't doubt for a second the Skrabens were dead - it was just that the fear was almost like a muscle memory.
Except with teeth and claws.
Sam walked beside him silently as they made their way back, flashlights cutting small paths in the seemingly endless darkness that surrounded them. Even with the yellow glow of the full moon it seemed as though the night was creeping closer, trying to reclaim what their light had taken. Dean could feel his heart pumping too fast as they finally reached the clearing without incident.
Too easy.
He motioned for Sam to go ahead up the wooden stairs as he trained his rifle on the emptiness behind them and he held his breathe until they were both inside with the door secured behind them. A quick sweep of their cabin and they both lowered their weapons.
"You're b..bleeding, let me check?"
"What?" Dean looked blankly then followed his brother's gaze to the torn fabric of his jacket.
"Your face and arms are cut up."
"Just scratches Sam they're fine."
Sam frowned but didn't argue, just nodded his head.
The immediate threat was over and Dean watched as his brother walked to the table and painstakingly unloaded the rifle, checking the cartridge before he began reloading. Just like their dad had always taught them, just like Dean had shown him. He could see Sam's movements were concentrated on the task, his face drawn.
"How…how long you think they were t…turned?"
"I don't know Sam but this whole thing feels different." Dean scooped the weapons bag up and placed it on the table as he came to stand beside his brother. "It's like we were set up and I get that, we've seen werewolves before that embrace what they've become but this is screwed up. I mean wouldn't the parents try and protect their young? It's like maybe it was a test but still, the mother only came after I fired."
What if it w…wasn't a test?"
Sam's whispered question made Dean's blood run cold as only a couple of options came to mind.
"They were just too young to plan this unless they wanted to prove themselves or, or they've done it before. If that's what happened, then it's pretty likely mom and dad were on another hunt. God this is so screwed up." Dean ran a hand across his face.
"We have to find Adrian."
"Yeah I know." Dean checked his watch. It was just after one am, still plenty of night left. "Sam you can't go back out there if you're not up for this."
"You're not doing this alone and I'm fine. You know we have to finish this, we c…can't let it happen again." Sam took a breath and risked a glance at his brother. "I know this is…is h…hard for you too okay. "
Suddenly uncomfortable with the way the conversation was heading, Dean unfolded the map and laid it out on the table besides Sam's rifle. "The mother came at me from this direction across the river and it only took her a few minutes from when I first fired until she appeared. I know they move fast but she couldn't have been more than a mile or so away."
"Okay, we start there."
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They walked back out into the night shoulder to shoulder, both afraid of what they might find. Neither able to overcome the darkness that had somehow seeped into their hearts as they struggled to get past the lives that had been destroyed here. Neither able nor willing to communicate their own fears.
As they came up to the river, the underbrush closest to Sam rustled in the near silence of the night. As his brother swung around to face the threat, Dean swept the flashlight around in a wide arc to make sure they weren't blindsided.
"Anything?"
"No. You?"
"Nothing big."
"Okay we keep moving."
"Dean, y…you think they've infected anyone else?"
"I don't know but we've got to be ready for anything. I never thought we'd come across a pack but you were right about that Sam."
Sam glanced briefly at his brother's half shadowed face and silently wished to God he had been wrong.
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They had come across five hunting huts within half a mile of each other after they had crossed the river. Five bursts of adrenaline later and they were still no closer to finding Adrian.
This small wooden structure looked rundown and unused with weeds and undergrowth reclaiming any cleared ground that might have once been. As they warily circled around the shack, Sam tapped his bother's arm and pointed along the ground towards the side wall.
"Something's been coming and going enough to wear a path."
As Dean squinted in the moonlight he saw the trail where the weeds and foliage had been flattened in a narrow line that disappeared in the darkness.
They slowly made their way through the forest until they had scoped the whole perimeter of the building. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, they advanced silently along the worn path.
In the lead, Dean was the first to notice the side door hidden in the shadows of the larger plants that had sprung up amidst the tangled undergrowth. There was no latch and he signalled his intention to Sam who nodded and readied his weapon.
On a silent count of three, Dean kicked the door open and Sam moved through with flashlight and gun. Dean moved past his brother in an instant, covering the other half of the room so they were almost back to back.
"Oh God." Sam swallowed hard to keep his stomach contents where they were as the stench hit him like a punch.
"Jesus." Dean turned his face so his mouth and nose were pressed against his raised arm. His flashlight landed on the gruesome remains of several bodies piled haphazardly against the wall and he was suddenly back in the motel room somewhere near Placerville, staring down at blue eyes.
He remembered those eyes that seemed to look straight through who he was, what he was pretending to be and they saw the truth. The dead girl with the sky blue eyes and ruined mouth whose guts were dripping down the floral quilt could see what he had done. He wondered if it would sound funny if he said it out loud.
Maybe if he started laughing, Sammy might get back what he'd lost and everything would be alright again. He really needed his brother back because Sam was the only one who knew that sometimes when Dean laughed, he was really screaming.
He jumps and steps back as he feels a hand on his shoulder, heart hammering in his chest he knows Sam is talking to him but he can't look away from the carnage.
"Dean c'mon." Sam places a hesitant hand on his brother's shoulder when he realises his words aren't getting through. He withdraws his hand quickly when Dean jumps, watching as his older sibling still stares at the motionless bodies.
"Dean?" The word comes out more like a whisper. "Please."
Sam's fear cuts though the fog, brings him from past nightmares to present ones. It's hard to tell sometimes if he's trying to escape from where he's been or where he is because he always seems to end up in the same place. In the end he's always lost and surrounded by death.
"Yeah." He tears his eyes away and remembers with dread where they are and what they're doing. In the middle of a hunt and he's losing it. "Let's get out of here."
He knows Sam is worried, can hear the fear in Sam's short breaths and doesn't blame him. He's a little worried himself.
They turn, weapons still locked and loaded because they both know they are on dangerous ground. The kills might not be fresh but this place belongs to what they are hunting and it can't be underestimated.
Dean slowly moves back out the door he had kicked open, pausing to listen for any sign something is out there even in the approaching dawn. He takes a step and glances back to see his brother is standing still in the middle of the room.
"Sam?"
"I thought I heard…" He looks at his brother as he hears it again, relieved when Dean comes back inside, head cocked to the side as his eyes dart around.
"It's coming from underneath us somewhere."
"Over here." Dean sees a rectangular cut in the floorboards and pries his finger in the space until he can get enough leverage to lift. The section moves easily and he folds it back, exposing a small staircase into darkness.
Their flashlights do little to reveal much apart from a dirt covered floor at the bottom but before they can even decide on a course of action, a shrill and clearly terrified voice startles them into motion.
"No, no, please leave me alone. I'll do anything, please just let me go."
"Sam stay there." Dean puts the flashlight in his mouth and starts to descend the ladder, gun trained on the floor below.
"Be careful." Sam sweeps his light around the room, fearful of being jumped. Knowing if he gets taken out, Dean will be trapped down there.
Dean stops about half way down and leans his body back against the wooden rungs so he can grip the flashlight. He directs the beam on the floor below and then slowly sweeps out to the furthest corner. As he moves the light along the wall a sob breaks the silence as a huddled form is bathed in the dim glow but he does a full sweep before he speaks or moves.
"Just one Sam, looks like she's tied to the wall. I'm gonna check it out."
"She c…could already be turned Dean."
"I know."
Sam waits nervously for as long as he can before calling out again to check on his brother, surprised when the answering voice is closer than he anticipated as he hears the ladder creaking.
"One girl still alive, Lucy, and I can't see any bite marks but I think we're gonna have to wait to be sure. She's either pretty fucking scared or she's got my vote for an academy award. Looks like her sister wasn't so lucky." Dean glanced up before continuing as he climbed out and stood beside his brother. "Heart ripped out right in front of her, or so I'm told."
"So she's either the next victim or m…maybe she's already a victim and made the kill herself."
"She's got no blood on her but if she's been turned recently we won't know for sure until tomorrow night."
"You have no idea what you're dealing with here hunter."
The low voice got an instant reaction from both boys but it was too late to offer any escape or defence as Sam felt an arm snake around his throat and lift so his toes were barely scraping the ground. Something hard struck the side of his head and he realised vaguely he was no longer holding either the weapon or the light.
"I am third generation, the lore you know doesn't even come close to me."
Dean gripped his own flashlight and gun as he watched Adrian's arm tighten, willing his hands not to shake as he heard Sam's laboured breathing and watched as his brother struggled in vain.
"Let him go and I'll let you walk away."
The laugh was bitter. "You would as soon die than let my kind live."
"You have my word." Dean's mouth was dry as he could see Sam's eyes begin to roll back in his head.
"I would rather have you turned."
The gunshot came as a big surprise and Dean was thrown back against the wall but didn't register what exactly had happened until he felt the pain blossom and then fully ignite. It was all he could do to keep his eyes focused on his brother as he slid down the wall.
Sam jumps reflexively as the gun goes off next to his head, the sound momentarily stunning him further. His vision greying around the edges from lack of oxygen, Sam suddenly tries to cry out and wrench free as he sees Dean sink to the floor. He falls in a heap when he is released without warning.
"Go down the ladder and don't try anything or the next bullet will be through your brother's skull. I'd much prefer to keep him alive for the moment but don't test me. I can see in the dark and move ten times faster than you." Adrian gave a low laugh, "He'll be either shot or bitten before you can take two steps."
"T…take me but let him go." Sam can't feel the press of metal against his back and knows his handgun is gone. He has to either go for his knife or crawl forward and hope the gun is still in Dean's ankle holster.
"Well actually he's gonna come in handy alive. You can't imagine how strong the hunger is when we run with the moon in our veins. The smell of warm blood, spilling out with a heartbeat is like a drug and it's everything."
Sam slowly edges a little closer to his brother but curls up in pain when a boot strikes his abdomen. He tries to grab the boot and twist it at the last minute until he's slammed back in the dirt and then dragged along the floor in the darkness.
"Climb down now." Sam hears the gun cocked and sees Adrian in the glow of the discarded lights, his hand in Dean's hair as the gun muzzle presses to his brother's head. One of the flashlights is suddenly kicked across the floor within his reach.
"Okay, okay." Sam finds the ladder and begins to climb down. "Dean…D…Dean?" He fights back the emotion and feeling of hopelessness and just prays that his brother is aware of what's going on. As his feet hit the dirt floor he hears a noise at the top and realises just in time that his brother is being pushed down the opening. Sam grabs Dean's torso as it drops and quickly drags him away to the wall, trying to ignore for the moment the gasps of pain he can hear in the darkness.
He tenses on hearing an engine come to life but two dust covered bulbs suddenly illuminate the room in a stark light. The lights flicker briefly as the generator coughs then resumes a steady thrum in time for Sam to see Adrian hauling Lucy roughly to her feet. She starts whimpering then screaming.
"No! Leave her alone." Sam brow creases in surprise at how pleading his voice sounds. It really shouldn't surprise him considering the only option he has is to beg. Both his guns are gone and he can't check to see if Dean is still packing without broadcasting his intention.
Sam can't even speak when he sees Adrian bite down on the girl's neck, effectively giving her a death sentence. Adrian drops Lucy in the dirt where she screams and sobs, chains still binding her wrists to the wall as he disappears up the ladder without a word, the trapdoor closing on their only exit.
Sam sags briefly against the wall, not realising how drained he is until his knees buckle as he tries to crouch down next to his brother and he ends up on his side in the dirt. He sits up, still unsteady but certain in the knowledge that he should be doing something more than staring in horror at the growing bloodstain on his brother's shirt.
The sound of Lucy screaming recedes to background noise as he begins to comprehend that his brother is shot and bleeding on the ground in front of him.
Heart pumping so hard it hurts, Sam kneels up trying to breathe as the blood continues to soak through the ripped jacket and shirt on Dean's shoulder. He presses his hands to his forehead in frustration when he can't think what to do.
"Dean? Oh God, pl…please Dean?" Sam's instincts finally kick in and he knows he has to stop the bleeding and his hands start to shake as his confidence falters.
"Yeah. Fucking hurts." Dean's eyes squint open and he moans and grabs at his shoulder. Sam's hands twist around themselves so he doesn't do something stupid. "Pretty sure there's an exit wound so at least…no shrapnel."
Sam nods and gently locates the smaller wound out the back of the shoulder. It's bleeding but it looks small and clean. Sam finally shrugs out of his jacket and over shirt offering the latter with an outstretched arm. "Here Dean press this on and I can tie the sleeves like a tourniquet. Okay?"
He doesn't make a move until his brother nods and presses the bulk of the shirt against the damaged skin. Even as he wraps the sleeves around his brother's body and then ties them off at the back, Sam is careful as he moves. He's learnt with weeks of practice how to patch his brother up without getting too close.
He pauses with uncertainty as Dean's forehead comes to rest against his arm, surprised he's allowed to witness such vulnerability even under these circumstances. Eyes now burning, Sam resists the urge to just hold on to his brother, to think that this might really be Dean here with him. Not the shadow of a brother who's been pushing him away these past months.
"S'gonna be okay Dean." Sam shifts as he finishes securing the makeshift bandage and Dean slowly lifts his head. It looks like he's about to speak but his expression changes to horror in the blink of an eye.
Catching a blur of movement just as Dean calls his name in warning, Sam finds himself with one arm wrenched behind his back and forced upward until he thinks his shoulder is going be ripped from its socket. A thick arm wraps around Sam's neck in a vice as Adrian releases his wrist and throws Dean's gun on the floor.
"Two silver bullets Dean. Think you can make it out hunter?"
"We'll get out of here and kill you then hunt down the rest of your filth." Dean moves his weight forward as he tried to judge the distance to the gun on the ground between them. Trying to use the fresh burst of pain to sharpen his senses only to find his body isn't responding like he expected. Like he needed.
"I think I'm going to find that entertaining because see here's the thing…"
Dean was looking directly at his brother's face when Sam's eyes widened in shock and he cried out in pain. Even before Adrian's face became visible, blood dripping from his mouth and down his chin, it was plainly and terribly obvious what had just happened.
"No!" Dean lunged despite the fact that he wasn't capable. He landed short but crawled until he had the gun held and cocked and a wave of dizziness nearly floored him. Bracing one knee in the dirt for balance, he caught Sam's eyes and he couldn't look away.
The intensity of emotion he stares into brings on a sense of terror that has Dean inadvertently on the brink of flight or fight. When he recognises the fear that glimpses through the resignation and courage on Sam's face, he becomes a brother first and foremost. He'll fix this, he knows how to get things done.
It's his job.
"Dean, do it. Please." Sam's voice is little more than a rasp.
"Sam?"
"Your brother wants you to shoot him Dean, two for the price of one. I personally am banking on the fact that you won't be able to do it. Not yet anyway, not until he's all fangs and teeth at your neck."
"No." Dean trained the gun over Sam's shoulder, hoping the younger boy would pick up on his plan for a head shot seeing as he had no clear path to Adrian's heart. The kill shot would have to be step two.
"I just want to see what choices you make when the monster lives a little closer to home. After what you have done to me, this is poetic justice."
Sam is suddenly thrown directly at the gun and Dean drops it to the side and tries to brace himself for the pain as he moves to try and cushion his brother's fall. He thinks he's got it under control until Sam's shoulder connects with his bloodied one and then nothing hurts anymore.
tbc…
a/n: Sorry for the delay and sorry if I don't reply to any reviews.
lb.