The Jersey Devil

Chapter ten

Later

They had walked for what seemed like miles and Dean could tell that most of the group was worn out having gotten no sleep the night before. It was starting to get light out and he hoped that the creature was nocturnal and wouldn't attack during the day. He knew he had no choice but to let everyone rest.

"Let's set up camp. We'll rest here for a few hours." He told the others after they came to a clearing in the woods. The group put down the few belongings they had managed to salvage from the destroyed campsite, then most of them sat on pieces of what used to be their tents totally exhausted. Dean walked over to his brother.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'll be okay."

Dean could tell Sam was far from okay.

"You don't look so good." He could see that Sam's face was pale and that something was obviously wrong. "Let me check you out." Before Sam could resist Dean pulled his shirt up and could see that the skin around his wound was bright red and swollen. "Looks like your wound is starting to get infected." It was exactly what he had been worried about. The knife had been dirty and there had been nothing to clean the deep wound with. Dean glared over at Walt. "I should rip that son of a bitch a new one." He said under his breath to Sam.

"That isn't going to solve anything."

"Maybe not but it would sure make me feel a whole lot better."

"Maybe so but we got more important problems to deal with, like getting everyone out of here alive." Sam nodded toward the trail. "If it keeps raining like this that trail will be washed away in a few hours."

Dean knew that was true, the rain was heavy and the barely visible footprints were slowly being washed away, but he knew the group was too tired to continue, and he knew pushing them was only going to cause resentment.

"I've got to let them rest for a few hours, they're beat….and by the looks of it you are too." Dean looked at Sam, the worry clear on his face. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?"

"What good would it have done? There's nothing you could do for me out here anyway."

"Well if it gets worse I might have to lance it to drain out some of the infection."

"Do what you have to do but I really think we need to keep moving."

They both looked over at the others who were already lying on the ground, some of them already asleep. Dean looked back at Sam.

"You need to get some rest yourself, you look beat."

"What about you? You look like you could use some rest yourself."

"I'm not the one who got stabbed in the back…..besides, someone needs to keep watch."

"Dean there are six other men here including myself, we can all take turns."

Sam knew he and his brother would normally be the ones keeping watch, but he was starting to feel lousy and he knew Dean couldn't do it by himself; he was just as worn out as everyone else was.

Dean looked over at the others, all of them were sprawled out on the ground, most of them asleep.

"They're not going to be much help."

"Well then I'll take the first watch, I'll wake you in a few hours." Sam figured that even as bad as he felt he knew he was probably going to be feeling a lot worse later. At least right now he'd be able to stay awake for a few hours and let Dean get some much needed rest, after that his brother would more than likely be on his own.

Dean knew it was senseless to argue. Sam was right, they all needed to get some rest including himself, being exhausted wasn't going to help anyone. There was nothing he could do for Sam now except hopefully get him out of there before he got too sick to walk. He'd get a few hours rest then let Sam get a few hours, by then the others should be rested and ready to move out.

Later

After a few hours Sam woke Dean up, and then he himself got some much needed rest. Sam could already feel his body starting to heat up and knew he was running a fever. He knew he had to hide it from Dean. If his brother found out he was sick he'd slow the pace down so he wouldn't wear him out, or worse make camp and delay their exit from the Barrens till he felt Sam was well enough to travel. He found a spot of ground away from the others and lay down, he was drained and fell into a restless sleep almost immediately.

A few hours later Dean woke everyone up and got them moving, he wanted to put as much ground between them and the creature before it got dark. Sam quickly wiped the sweat from his face and tried not to get too close to his brother so he wouldn't notice his appearance. He took his spot at the front of the pack and once more led the group toward what he hoped was the trail out of the Barrens.

The creature sat high in the pine trees watching the group as they once more headed out of their make-shift campsite. He could feel his hunger growing as he licked the blood off of his wings. With his keen sense of smell and excellent eyesight he had already picked out the weakest in the group. It was the one walking in front of the pack….but he wasn't choosy, any of them would satisfy his hunger.

TBC