"Answer the damn phone," Dean snarled, deeper and with more ferocity than he had ever spoken with.
His muscles were iron, clenched so tightly he was sure they'd snap and his temper was thinning so quickly he was that close to punching someone in the face; multiple times. The guys, after realizing Brian was the second Hydusa, had shifted into blind-panic and were speeding through town like madmen. They had intially went to the burger joint, but when Cole wasn't with her date, they broke off, Sam on foot, Bobby on wheels, and Dean with Baby. Dean was now driving around aimlessly, his eyes frantically scanning the roads for any statue or person or anything that resembled Colette or Brian.
His mind raced. Was she okay? Was she dead? He had no clue. His foot pressed harder on the gas, not once stopping. He probably made a few pedestrians jump out of the way of his speeding car and may've whisked pasta few jay-walkers, but he didn't really care. All he wanted was to find Colette and make sure she was safe. He snarled deeply as the monotonous voice on the other end told him to leave a message and he quickly hung up the phone, redialing her number. She had to answer. She had to be alive. Sure, they'd all known when they began hunting their lives would only end in one way; the hands of a monster, but wouldn't accept this fate for Colette. He still thought it was stupid of her to still be in the business as her intelligence could be used for so much more, but he'd never allow her to die because of some crappy-haired monster with sharp eyes.
No, Colette Singer deserved a lot more than that. She deserved more than what this case offered, what this life offered... what he offered. Cole deserved the world yet all he could picture was her probably being backed into a corner, eyes pleading as she ran out of ideas and weapons, the creature closing in.
The ponytail on the back of her head had dropped, landing more-so on the middle of her head than it had been when she first got to the burger joint. Especially now that she was running, she could feel the elastic band slipping from its grip on her hair. Soon enough her hair'll be spilled out from its containment, giving the Hydusa, Brian, that much more of an advantage. She'd gotten a good few paces ahead of him, but she knew she was running thin quickly. Her stamina wasn't as near as Dean's or Sam's. She'd seen them run before, their long legs thrusting them forward on the ground as their feet propelled them forward. Not her though. Cole, seeing as she was tremendously shorter, had smaller legs and a smaller stride. And now that her long hair was going to be flowing at any given moment, all Brian had to do was reach his hand out and grasp it, instantly dropping Cole onto her back.
Not to mention this thing was like six foot. Cole was quite surprised she'd made it this far without the thing getting too close. Her legs were beginning to strain though and the sharp wind of the night had began to settle on her skin and in her throat, making every intense inhale hurt. Her heart was ramming against her ribcage, her lungs beginning to tighten and her breath beginning to come out in wheezes. Her head was pounding horrifically and the rhymatical beat of her feet hitting the ground began to become mesmerizing. Refusing to let fatigue take over, she bolted forward, through leaves and trees and attempting to loose the beast behind her. If Colette couldn't outrun it, she'd have to postpone it. How? Throw things in front of it.
Racing towards the garbage bins and recycling cans laid around the lake to reduce pollution, Cole slammed her fist against those and knocked them over. She heard a grunt and risked a glance over her shoulder to see Brian snarling and standing up, stray pieces of paper and foil clinging to his clothes. Her eyes met his for a split second and she watched as his crystal blue eyes, the ones she thought had been so cool, narrow and the pupil thin into that of a snake's. And as she looked away and continued forward, it made sense as to why his eyes had looked so damn familiar; because they were the spitting image of his mothers.
Her joints ached and her muscles screamed with pain as the tightness in them made every stride hurt. They flared and cried, making her entire body reject the impulses sent from her brain to continue moving. Cole prayed for a rush of adrenaline, something, and only when his hand had landed on her shoulder and his other had fisted itself in her hair had the adrenaline kickstarted causing her to go into overdrive. Slamming her fist into his wrists, the Hydusa loosened his grip, not a lot, but enough to make it easier for her to slide from his clutch. She thrusted her foot into his chest, sending him to the ground as he grunted, his tongue slithering from his mouth and releasing a bone-chilling hissing sound.
Refusing to make eye-contact though, Cole trudged foward. Cardio was never a favorite of her's and as she ran and ran, she remembered why. Knowing her feet wouldn't keep this up and her muscles were about to snap at any given moment, Colette frantically looked around for something to help her. A place to hide or sneak or throw at him, maybe even kill him; just something.
The suspense was unbearable. Turning around once more, she yelped and dodged a glop of blue liquid that spewed from the glands inside Brian's mouth, only to then slam into a wired fence. Her leg somehow slid underneath the jagged fence and had gotten cut. Realizing she didn't have time though, Cole tugged her leg right out, screaming in the process. What she'd failed to realize was a rogue wire had planted itself in her calf muscle and when she ripped her leg free from the fence, the wire had been pulled through the skin of her lower leg, ultimately tearing it open.
He was a good forty or so yards away. She'd managed to get ahead of him after throwing a bunch of crap in his way, but she knew that this wound would definitely slow her down. Frantically scoping out the place, Cole's eyes zeroed in on two boulders that were placed perfectly in between a long line of stores, meaning Brian'd have to go around the strip mall in order to get her because there was no way in hell he was fitting through that gap. She didn't even know if she'd fit through it, but she was definitely willing to take the chance. She took off sprinting, or at least jogging as fast as she could, and soon found herself right at the edge of the rocks. Cole twisted herself sideways and began to shuffle through only to jump when a hand grasped her shoulder tightly.
She looked over, sure to not look in the eyes, and batted his hand away. Brian's grip, however, was stuck purely on her jacket and she decided to just leave it and slid right out of the piece of clothing, beginning to shuffle farther into the crevice. He growled, holding the jacket to himself as he tilted his body and looked at the gap. There was no way he was getting through that. Backing up, he looked at the span of the stores and snarled. It'd take him awhile to get around the stores and to where she'd be, but he was set in his goal of turning his date to stone.
He was about to take off when the entire jacket in his hand buzzed. Furrowing his eyebrows, Brian stuck his hand in its pockets and retreived a phone. The caller ID was labeled Dean and Brian grinned as he answered the phone, "Hello, Dean."
"Co- You son of a bitch."
"You've got quite a mouth on you, Winchester. I've heard a lot about you."
"Well, congradulations. Now, you listen to me, buddy, if I find Colette anything but healthy, I swear to God I'll tear you apart limb by limb."
Brian chuckled, taking the phone from his ear and placing it to his lips before he whispered menacingly, "If you find her, that is."
And with that, Brian hung up the phone, dropping it with ease to the ground along with the jacket before beginning his run around the buildings. It was set in stone in his mind that Colette would be killed and his mother would be avenged and anyone who dared to stop him will end in the same fate Cole will.
Sam carried Cole across the road and towards a bunch of bushes, placing her down and examining her wound. She'd ran into him after getting through the rocks and practically falling on top of the younger Winchester. He now was attempting to hide them, at least long enough for him to do a simple first-aid on her leg, and was muttering curse words. He threw off his flannel wrapping it around her leg and causing her to hiss with pain before he called Bobby and told them their location. Not seconds after he'd done this did a looming shadow darken the light radiating from the sky and Sam was grabbed by the color and punched.
Brian laughed as Sam stumbled backwards, grabbing his nose and realizing it was bleeding. Snarling, the two began throwing punches and kicks, Sam swinging his machete he'd brought alone with him and Brian gracefully dodging all the blows. Bobby's truck revved into view and Colette watched as her father jumped from the car, grabbing a stake, and racing towards the collage of fists and feet. Brian snarled deeply, seeing he was out-numbered and didn't have a physical weapon and quickly began growing a head as his eyes went all Medusa on the hunters and he began spitting out the blue toxins.
Brian's fist clashed with Bobby's cheek, sending the older hunter to the ground. The Hydusa then swung at Sam's ankles and snarled as the boy fell to the ground, swinging the machete in the process and slicing open the monster's arm. He squealed with pain and anger, a third head forming as the second one opened its eyes and hissed aggressively at the two fallen men. Sam managed to scoot away from the Hydusa's grasp and quickly dialed Dean's number as he panted heavily, Bobby distracting the beast and avoiding the saliva at all costs.
The older Winchester had just rounded a corner, almost bashing into the traffic light in the process, when his phone rang. Immediately grabbing it, Dean snarled into the mike and began his rant, assuming it to be Brian before he realized it was Sam. When Dean heard his younger brother's voice laced with exhaustion and fear, Dean went on alert, and when Sam said he had Colette and the Hydusa's location, Dean went on over-drive. Dean made a deadly U-turn causing another guy in a Toyota to swing his car out of the way so Baby could race through and sped towards the lake where Sam said he was with Cole and Bobby, unfortunately with the monster too.
Colette sat there helplessly, the gash pouring blood from her calf and making her lower leg feel asleep, numb. Pain seared through it, aching through every muscle and nerve and vein and ligment in the lower part of her limb cry out with such distress, Cole had to bite her mouth shut to not let out whimpers. Not to mention she felt utterly helpless and useless as her father and best friend charged at this thing aimlessly, weaponlessly. Bobby's stake and Sam's machete had been easily tossed to the side by the monster and they were now playing a tag-game, except the tagger had venom that could turn them to pebbles in seconds. Not to mention, Brian had created two more heads making the odds of winning the game tilt forever in his favor, each with a forked tongue like his mother and snake eyes. That's what she recognized from the burger joint; the snake eyes.
Sam and her father had tried their hardest not to look into the creature's eyes but it was so damn hard seeing as the thing was also spitting blue venom at them. They had to know what its next move was, where it would be spitting next, but they couldn't just watch its body language and positioning of its face as if they did, their bodies would turn as fragile as hardened pulled sugar. Sitting there wasn't helping much at all, so she dragged herself to a nearby tree and forced herself to stand, snapping off a thick branch and beginning to tear off the extra smaller twigs. A pair of hands slid around her waist and held her upwards, startling her as she quickly swung around and went to elbow the person and or monster in the jaw. The man had quick reflexes though and caught her elbows with his large hand, tsking under his breath as he grumbled, "Your leg's bleeding."
Immediately recognizing the voice, she eased into the grip and leaned against his chest for support as her mouth hissed out a response, "Yeah."
Dean glanced at the fight from his location with Cole, watching as Sam distracted the beast and Bobby gave it a few punches from behind and concluded they would be good for a few seconds. Turning his attention to Colette, Dean moved her and placed her down so she was sitting and snarling deeply at the wound on her leg. Though Sam had wrapped it, the flannel was caked in blood and was sopping and in the moment, Dean felt a punch of disappointment fill his chest as he knew there wasn't much he could do for her. So, deciding the best thing he could do was replace the flannel, he took off his own layer and swaped it with Sam's, throwing the bloodied one to the side and telling Cole to stay put.
When Dean turned around though, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped. The scene from before had completely altered, completely switched and it was now the Hydusa who had the upper hand, rather than Sam and Bobby. When the older brother had looked to Cole, the hunters were winning the fight, but as Dean stared at what lied in front of him, he realized the tables had catastrophically changed. Bobby was on the ground behind the creature grasping his chest and heaving for breath with a black eye and broken nose and Sam laid in front of the monster, his shirt torn wide open with gashes from the Hydusa's nails and was groggily regaining consciousness.
Dean watched in horror as all three of the Hydusa's mouths opened in unison, their tongues sticking out and their glands getting ready to shoot at Sammy who lied there helplessly and weakly. The state Sam in reminded Dean of when they were younger and little Sammy was extremely sick. Dean had tried everything in his power to make his younger brother feel better, and though it took a few days, he started healing. An urge in his stomach caused Dean to kickstart into action and cause his muscles to tighten throughout his body.
"Sam!" Dean shouted, catching the attention of the Hydusa as its mouth closed slightly in a change of attention, and charged for his younger brother.
Dean tackled Sam, rolling the twenty-two year old out of the way and huffing as he stood. He immediately turned to face the creature that dared to touch his brother, locking eyes with it, and instantly feeling everything harden. The last thing he heard was Sammy cry out his name as the younger brother watched his older one turn to stone. Colette screamed out her protest, calling Dean's name as she covered her mouth in shock, a new found fury igniting in her stomach.
The attention of the Hydusa was thankfully on Sam and so Cole sharpened the piece of wood she had broken from the tree over and over, faster and faster, until it seemed sharp enough. From there, she slid the stake towards her father who breathed ailly and took it gratefully, standing up weakly and sneaking behind the beast, swinging the piece of wood back, and stabbing it right through the middle head. The other heads on either side of the now dead one screamed in pain and swung to face the man who dared to attack them, only for Sam to jolt up with adrenaline and slice every head off cleanly with the machete.
All three heads tumbled to the ground and soon the body followed, Cole limping towards Dean's body as Sam glanced in Bobby's direction, the older Singer giving a feeble thumbs up, and then turning his attention to his stone-cold brother, silently crossing his fingers and praying Dean would become human again. The tension rose when nothing happened and the minutes that passed began to feel like hours. Colette's fists clenched as she yelled at him to wake up, Sam's eyes beginning to water as he walked over to the statue and went to shake his arm, only to realize the entire thing was too heavy to move. The two younger hunters began calling out Dean's name, screaming it and telling him to snap out of it as Bobby watched heartbrokenly. Dean had to wake up, had to snap out of it... he just had to.
When he finally did, the hard, stone exterior crumbling around him and Dean tumbled forward, Sam shot his arms around his brother and drew him close, breathing deeply and closing his eyes. Colette let out a sob of relief and pressed her hand to her chest to slow it down, reverting her eyes from the brothers and breathing deeply to calm herself down. That was close, too close. Dean returned the hug to his brother with just as much force, thankful himself and Sammy were okay and that this fucking thing was finally dead.
Noticing Colette a few feet away trying to calm herself down, Dean pulled away from Sam and grinned before turning to Cole. Sam smiled brightly, inhaling sharply and motioning towards the body and heads as Bobby and himself began to move them to the back of Bobby's truck. The second Dean said hi, her arms wrapped around him tightly, holding him as tightly as she could to herself and pressing her head to his chest. His heartbeat was fast and strong which caused her to smile because seconds ago, it wasn't even there. It took a few moments, but Dean's arms wrapped around her and squeezing with just as much force before he rested his head on her own and took in an uneasy breath. He then chortled to himself and whispered, "So, how'd your date go?"
She pulled away to see his signature grin plastered on his face and chuckled. "You know, I've been on better. The food wasn't all that good."
Dean laughed slightly before watching the two other hunters have difficulties getting the body into the truck and sighed. He led Cole towards Baby, getting a towel and placing it on the backseat so Cole didn't get blood everywhere before he helped her in and then closed the door. It took a few tries, but the three male hunters managed to get the body and three heads into the back of the truck and Bobby agreed to meeting them back at the motel after he dumped the remains.
Packing their things up was a hustle as Cole was limping around like an old dog, Bobby kept telling everyone where everything went, and the brothers couldn't help but bicker. By the time they'd finish getting all their crap back into their bags, it was two and a half hours past the time they wanted to go. Money was still an issue that was breathing down their necks and Cole had spent a good hour before hand calculating the precise time they should leave so they could make it back to South Dakota in less than four days and spend little money, but considering the were a few hours off, those calculations didn't really matter. Fortunately, Mr. Brian Matler was a very wealthy man and offered the hunters four hundred dollars after his passing. Sighing lightly and doing a few math equations in her head, Colette guessed the four hundred would suffice for the three of them.
Bobby, awhile before they began packing, told the three they should head back to his junkyard and look for a new case and to not wait up for him. On his way back to South Dakota, he had promised a few friends he'd stop by their place to help with their cases so he wouldn't be back at his house for a good four to five days after the younger hunters go there.
Making sure everything was where it should be and everything was packed, Bobby waved goodbye and told the boys to watch out for his girl before he hopped in the truck and drove off. Dean grunted as he shoved the final guns into the back of his impala, closing the trunk and letting out an exhausted breath before hopping in the driver's seat. Sam offered to drive but Dean shook his head. It was clear the stone-thing had taken a lot out of the man but neither Colette or Sam said anything. Instead, Dean started the car and drove onto the road, the headlights of Baby lighting the road ahead in the darkness, some of Dean's rock music softly playing in the background, and a comfortable silence settling on them. Sam rested his head on the cold glass of his window and soon falling asleep, the soft snoring of the younger Winchester becoming so rhythmatical it put Cole to sleep.
Before she fell asleep though, it dawned on her that she was falling asleep in the Winchesters' car. One side of her reminded her of the promise she'd made to herself, that she'd leave the second the case was over, but then the other side of her told her to forget about the stupid promise, that over the course of the month she'd realized these dumb idiots were her friends. Her family. And as she fell asleep, she altered her promise. That no matter what happened, she'd never leave. Because over the course of the week and a half they'd been here, she realized that she didn't need Mark or alcohol or anything else she relied in the past. It had occured to her that all she really needed was those idiotic Winchester brothers and her father.