Chapter 11
Sam came up with nothing as he finished searching the reptilian section of the zoo. Frustrated, he muttered to himself. "Shoulda' called the freakin' Men of Letters." He hated how stubborn Dean could be, but quickly remembered how stubborn Dean had been in saving his life. When Sam was destined to be the vessel for Satan and the leader of the demonic army that would destroy the world. When he was doped up on demon's blood and the entire Hunter population wanted to kill him for being a monster, Dean never budged. Dean fought and fought to protect Sam, even though Sam was doing everything Dean had asked him not to do. If it wasn't for Dean's stubbornness, Sam would likely be dead now. In fact, he knew he'd be dead. He had died, but Dean was too stubborn to let him stay dead and made a deal with a demon. Regardless, at the moment, his stubbornness was just plain annoying!
As he turned to catch up with Dean, he heard a loud roar from what could have been any large cat for as much as Sam knew followed by the frightened scream of Dean. Sam froze, his heart falling from his chest rapidly into his gut, like an elevator with its cable snapped and no emergency brakes to save it. Without even thinking about it, Sam was running and shouting. "DEAN!" Nothing. "DEAN!" He shouted louder. Still nothing.
He ran through the large cats section of the zoo, desperately looking for any sign of Dean. As he approached the tiger enclosure, he saw a dark figure looming over a tiger, with another tiger sitting calmly behind him, with a large glowing staff in the air, its hand out-stretched, chanting something weird under its breath. Whatever it was was not human. Sam took a mental picture of it. Purple Skin. Tall, muscled figure. Male features. Large antlers. Feathered arms. Clawed Hand. Taloned Feet. Large Staff. Glowing Eyes. Despite taking in all the features, Sam hadn't the slightest idea what he was looking at.
BANG! BANG! Sam shot his pistol at whatever it was, deciding that he could identify it later. Now he needed to kill it. The bullets hit, but the creature seemed un-phased. However, it did seem startled. The creature booked it out of the gateway and sprinted into the woods at a pace Sam could never have hoped to keep up with. Behind him ran a tiger. Sam watched as they disappeared quickly into the night. "The hell?" Sam asked himself.
He shook his head in the cold night and could actually see his nervous sweat fly off his forehead. Right now the monster wasn't important. Dean was. For as annoying as he had been. For all the fights. For his threatening to leave Sam behind, Sammy couldn't leave him. He ran into the enclosure and didn't see anything. No monsters. No tiger. No Dean. However, as he approached the center of the enclosure, he saw something that caused his breath to stop and his lips to go dry.
Dean's clothing sat un-worn by Dean on the ground. Sam approached them and inspected them. Boots. Socks. Jeans. Underwear. Shirt. Jacket. Even the keys to the Impala were there. "Dean!" Sam cried out again.
Sam scanned his surroundings with the focus of a hawk. He checked the corners of the pen and the sleeping cave. He knew there were two tigers with that creature a minute ago. He also knew that only one had exited earlier and the only opened exit was the gate behind him. The remaining tiger had to be in here, and Sam was not about to go slinking around with a tiger on the loose.
That's when he saw it. A pair of eyes reflecting in his flashlight. He pretended not to notice it and continued moving the flashlight about as he actually took a few steps in the large cat's direction. Hopefully, the tiger wasn't that clever. "Dean?" Sam asked more calmly, not wanting to urge the cat into a panicked frenzy with his shouting. Nothing but a low growl from the tiger in the brush.
Sam slowly moved the flashlight back onto the set of eyes. Clink. Sam dropped the flashlight. "Oh my…" Sam whispered to himself. He knew Dean better than he knew anything else in the world. His attitude. His personality. His style. His opinions and preferences. His body. And especially his eyes.
The eyes hiding in the brush were not a tiger's eyes. They were Dean's. Green-hazel. Warm and caring, but firm and protective. Riddled with emotion, but as stoic as he could get them. Those were not a tiger's eyes. They were Dean's.
Sam took a couple steps toward it, not sure if he was crazy and was actually approaching his death, or if he wasn't crazy and that the world was crazy, and his brother was somehow now a tiger. "Dean?" At those words, Sam saw an intelligent recognition in the eyes before the large cat bolted from its hiding spot and padded out of the enclosure at a rapid speed. "Dean?!" Sam shouted. Why the hell is he running? Sam wasn't sure as he watched the cat disappear into the night. He won't get far. All the exits to the zoo are closed to anyone that doesn't have opposable thumbs. Sam thought as he tried to figure out what to do. However this went down, Sam was pretty sure it was going to be a long, cold night.