A Debt Paid Part 11
Terry tried to find a pulse, but got nothing.
Sam and Dean got to their feet, and with Sam wincing from the pain in his leg they made
their way carefully over to Terry.
Sam stared at the Doc then turned to glare at Dean.
"What happened here Dean? Huh? What kinda shit were you guys trying to pull?"
Dean glared at him. "Sam calm down! You were dying. Almost ….gone." He faltered on that last word. "I didn't know…."
With a grunt of discomfort, Sam crouched down by Terry, anger brimming over. "How you could let her do this? She did something didn't she? Somehow traded her life for mine?" Terry hung his head and Sam punched his arm. "Answer me you asshole!"
The Sarge slowly turned a cold, deadly glare on to the angry Winchester.
"Firstly, it wasn't a trade just a very dangerous spell." Terry's voice remained low and calm, but carried a warning edge to it. "Secondly, the Doc wouldn't be talked out of it. Not even the Devil himself could talk her out of something once she made her mind up. And thirdly, you ungrateful little shit," He grabbed the front of Sam's shirt and pulled the lad right up close to his face, causing Sam to gasp and Dean to try and step in, "you ever lay a finger on me again and I'll do worse things to you than Gordon ever could."
There was a stunned silence in which both brothers reflected on a few things; mainly that although this SAS operative was on their side he was still an extremely dangerous man, but also that Sam was still alive because of him and the Doc. They also realized that the Doc wasn't stupid and had chosen this path for good reason; she hadn't struck the boys as the type to risk her life needlessly.
Sam nodded slowly and hung his head a little. Terry surprised him at that point by giving him a gentle and reassuring pat on the back. He bent his head and stared into Sam's eyes. "I know lad. I know." He whispered softly, then, laying the Doc on the ground, he stood up taking Sam with him
The three men stared down at the former medical officer.
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Bastard suddenly went rigid and trained his night scope out to the South. Something was moving in the night. Or someone. He signaled to Skunk who indicated that he'd also seen it. Within a second Skunk was gone.
Clink had hidden himself well at the edge of the clearing but Skunk soon appeared next to him.
"Corp?"
"Yeah. Spotted mate. I'd better let the Sarge know. You lads clear the place, get packed up and dampen the fire." Clink wasn't happy. "Looks like the buggers found us sooner than we thought."
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"Get back to the clearing lads. I'll follow on in a few minutes." The Sarge bent down and gently picked up the Doc. "I've got to take care of her now." At the sorrowful glances he added "we can't take her where we're going."
Dean, with a weary heart, placed an arm around his brother's shoulders and started helping him up the incline.
Neither of them could bring themselves to look back.
Terry laid the Doc down in a dense thicket of trees, way above the stream, took off his coat and laid it over her. He sat back and sighed. "Why eh mate? Couldn't you have let this go?"
But he knew in his heart that, had he been in her shoes, he would have made the same choice. The Doc had been all too aware of the circumstances. She'd been recruited by her Uncle James, Terry's father, after all. It was just that some of the sacrifices seemed too great.
Whenever these spells were used, it was never certain what the consequences would be.
He thought of the last time.
Terry? Terry can you hear me? What I'm about to try….it's experimental and I'm not sure how things are going to turn out. If something goes wrong, get out! You understand? Quickly. You can always come back for me later.
"You're the best Doctor I've ever met. And one of the best soldiers I've ever worked with," and thinking of Clink, Skunk and Bastard, not to mention the Winchesters, he added "and that's saying a fucking lot mate."
He smiled and learned over, softly planting a kiss on her forehead.
"Stay safe Sir."
And then he made a promise to his younger cousin.
"I'll be back for you."
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When the brothers reached the top of the gully, Sam was breathing heavily with pain and exhaustion. The toxin and infection had been cleansed from his body, but the weariness from the other injuries persisted.
At least he has a fighting chance now, thought Dean.
He came to an abrupt stop and stared out into the night.
Someone was watching them.
Very slowly, Dean lowered his brother to the ground and stood silently listening. Sam tried to control his breathing as best he could; he'd also sensed something was off.
Clink stepped out from behind the tree right next to them and grinned when they jumped.
"Sorry to startle ya lads, but we have a problem." He glanced down into the gully. "Where's Sergeant Morgan?"
Dean gestured behind him to the gully. "He's still down there, said he'd be along in a minute.
Clink watched the Winchesters carefully. "What about the Doc?"
The brother's looked at each other with morose expressions, and that was all the Corporal needed to know. Grabbing Sam by the arm and forcing him up, he bade them follow him.
Moving in silence for quite a while, Clink suddenly stopped. The brother's looked around realizing they were back at the clearing. But it looked different. There was no fire for a start, but in the Clink's filtered torchlight it looked as though no one had ever been here.
The Corporal let out a low whistle. Within seconds, the brother's found themselves surrounded by a protective wall made up of the three SAS operatives, and all torch lights went out.
Clink, Skunk and Bastard took up a triangle around Sam and Dean, assault rifles pointing outwards. Sam felt a heavy pistol being nudged into his hands. He looked round at Skunk and nodded his thanks.
"Hey Dean mate?" Called Bastard softly, his back to him.
"Yeah?"
"Remember that Glock I gave you?" He didn't need to say anymore. Dean already had it in his hand. There was a soft click as he cocked it.
They all stood in perfect silence, waiting for Sergeant Morgan to appear, the tension in the air so thick a Samurai would have had trouble cutting it.
It didn't take long.
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The Sarge took one more look back at his cousin, then ran up the gully as though it were no more than a mere bump in his path.
Before reaching the top, he was aware of the change in the atmosphere. The tide had turned too soon.
Terry caught sight of shadows moving in the distance, right down by the lake.
Running at full force, as quietly as he could, he legged it to the now darkened clearing. Without stopping he called softly to his team.
"Go. Go Go!"
Terry snatched the rifle out of the air that Skunk had thrown to him, and with Clink in the lead, the SAS and the Winchesters moved out.
And moved on.
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Captain Sadler had already learned that Morgan's car hadn't gone up as planned by the time Dean had been pulling the bullet out of Sam's leg. He kept his temper well, as always.
It hadn't taken a genius to work out where to go next.
So he'd sent his troops down river with orders to spread out into two large assault teams.
"How long before they find them?" Came Hendrickson's voice.
The Captain allowed a smug grin to work its way forward. "Not long, my dear friend. Not long at all."
Hendrickson scowled. "I am not your friend." He hated this guy in fact. It was in the FBI's agent's opinion that he was a lunatic. Hendrickson himself was only in this for the Winchesters, Dean in particular. He wasn't too worried about Sam; The Captain could take that annoying little shit out of the running if he wanted, but Dean was wanted for murder. Sam had aided and abetted his escapes, sure. But getting the older brother at the expense of losing the youngest to this guy was fine by him. In Hendrickson's eyes they were both guilty of something, and Sam would certainly get his comeuppance with Sadler.
It was just that Hendrickson was no longer entirely sure he agreed with the methods. In truth, he was conflicted. Having interviewed so many people who'd by chance ran into the Winchesters at some point, he was getting the feeling that things weren't as clear cut as he'd thought. Those people had revered the Winchesters.
Some had defended them to the hilt, aggressively so. Hendrickson rubbed the bruise on his jaw dealt him by a particularly feisty blonde lady down in Lawrence, Kansas. The boy's home town.
She lived in their childhood home no less, but had refused to divulge what they'd done to help her. At first she'd seemed nervous, and Hendrickson thought that this shy little lady could be easily intimidated into giving him answers.
But when he had suggested that Dean Winchester was a murdering sonofabitch, she'd laid him out.
Hmm. His mind was starting to form a picture, and he didn't like it.
These guys had some kind of hold over those people, but what was it? Some form of blackmail?
But no amount of digging had brought to light any dirty little secrets that the Winchester's could have used against them.
A threat to their very lives perhaps?
That seemed too far fetched.
But I'll find out, thought Hendrickson, determinedly. One way or another.
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One by one the men vanished deeper into the forest.
Dean had the Glock at the ready watching the way ahead, whilst Sam kept an eye out to the flanks. Once again the sarge backed up the rear, with Skunk on the left hand flank and Bastard on the right.
Clink kept a brutal pace that Sam struggled with but carried on without complaint.
Terry could almost hear the pounding feet not far off and whispered loudly, "Bloody move faster lads, now!"
Half an hour later, gunfire broke out and the group heard the noise of bullets zipping through the air and thudding into trees and the forest floor all around them. Terry, Skunk and Bastard started returning fire.
And so it had started.
The Winchester boys had never really been in an all out fire fight like this before and the adrenaline rush it gave them spurred them on, the noise almost deafening.
A shot came from close by narrowly missing Terry, and as he ducked Dean whirled round and opened fire with the Glock. It wasn't nearly so satisfying as the loud boom of the shotgun he was used to, but the strangled noise of pain from the trees, followed by a loud thud of someone going down hard, was good enough.
"Hold the line lads!" Yelled Sergeant Morgan, realizing there was a good chance of being over-run. And their ammo wasn't going to last much longer.
But he had a trick up his sleeve. It was called Skunk.
Another shot ricocheted off a tree near Bastard's head. Sam repeated his brother's actions with his own pistol, firing off two shots, also earning himself a few brownie points when the unseen assassin made a horrific gurgling noise.
Ducking, firing, and in Bastard's case laughing evilly, they fought their way onwards through the first wave of attacks.
Clink moved round trading places with Skunk. Then the Corporal, Terry and Bastard kept up the covering fire at the rear. Sam and Dean, moving round each other back to back, maintained high speed and precision gun fire into the trees whenever a shot got too close to the team.
One by one they all loaded new magazines.
"I'm out!" Sam yelled, only to find another two clips thrown his way. Catching them easily, he grinned as he re-loaded. If he was honest with himself he would have admitted that he was enjoying this as much as Dean.
The brother's carried on shooting at anything that moved.
Meanwhile, Skunk disappeared for a few minutes, and then came back with a smug smile on his face. He nodded to the Sarge.
"Move your fucking arses now lads!" Terry yelled.
And with occasional shots back into the trees all six of them darted away.
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Sergeant Garwood had seen the enemy up ahead and got too cocky, as he always did. But he was young and had been promoted through the ranks fast.
He knew that Captain Sadler had some influence, and in truth he really didn't trust the rupert – proving that he wasn't entirely stupid. But the Captain had spotted a like-minded individual, and now Garwood had his promotion; another one was on the way if this mission was successful.
Sending his team onwards he hung back a little, just to see what would happen.
One of his corporals missed the ultra-fine trip wire that had been set up after Sergeant Morgan's little outfit had retreated.
It wasn't just an explosion.
It was a lot of explosions.
Skunk, genius that he was, had set up the explosives in a Domino Rally effect. Once one trip went, so did the rest. And so, all along the front line, trees caught fire and fell, taking out all of Sergeant Garwood's team and most of the others that had gone in.
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If the noise of the gunfire had been loud, this was incredible.
Whilst Sam and Dean were startled, their temporary team mates were whooping with delight.
Team Morgan-Winchester kept on running.
Dean managed to keep his brother upright but knew Sam wouldn't be able to stand the punishing pace much longer.
Miraculously, no one was hit by the time they came to the rocky outcrop at the base of a large hill.
"We have to head over that and another five miles beyond to get to the emergency RV point." Terry pointed upwards.
Sam looked up wearily. The notion of having to climb it suddenly made it seem not so hill-like. More like a small mountain. "Aw crap," he muttered.
Terry saw the pain etched on Sam's face. "Dean, get your brother up and over. We'll follow on behind to keep the wolves at bay." He grinned at Clink. "How many, Corporal Smale?"
"Five left sarge," the Corporal grinned back, "over there at least." He added pointing from the way they'd come. Then he pointed over to the South "and another ten over there".
Terry smirked. He glanced at the Winchesters who hadn't yet moved. "The fun's about to start." He gestured to them once again. "Get moving; we won't be long."
Sam and Dean looked at each other.
Dean shrugged and started up the incline, dragging his exhausted brother along with him.
It was tough terrain, extremely rocky with stones crumbling away under their scrambling feet, and would have been dangerous enough for a novice in broad daylight. But in virtual pitch black, it was proving almost lethal. Dean didn't dare switch on the maglite.
They kept hearing the sound of gunfire but it was getting further away. After a few minutes Dean figured it was safe to take a break. He sat his brother down on a rocky ledge and Sam collapsed back, his eyes closing briefly. He opened them again to find Dean staring at him.
"What?" He asked softly.
Dean looked down at the ground for a second before turning his gaze onto the scene below. He could occasionally make out muzzle flashes in the darkness as Terry's small team went up against fifteen or more of Sadler's soldiers. He could hear shouting. It sounded like Terry and his boys were indeed having fun.
"Dean?" Sam asked again.
"You were dying Sammy," Dean met his little brother's concerned gaze, unshed tears in his eyes. "I've never felt so…." He looked around unseeing before looking at Sam again. "I felt so useless. I couldn't help you. And then I woke up and you were gone."
Sam's heart broke a little on hearing that.
"Dean, I'm so sorry," he replied, his own eyes looking suspiciously bright. "I thought… I didn't know what I was thinking. I couldn't seem to get anything straight in my head."
Dean's face hardened for second. "What couldn't you get straight Sam? Running away from me? Leaving me to wonder what the hell had happened to you? Again?" This last word was spoken with such pained anger that Sam flinched.
Swallowing hard, Sam reached forward and tried to place a comforting hand on Dean's shoulder. But his brother batted it away angrily.
Sam tried again.
"Dean, one of the last things I remember was wanting to find you. But before that, yeah I was running from you. I…I couldn't let you…"
Dean interrupted harshly. "See you die? You think I relished that either Sam? I wanted to be there for you…." He smothered a choke. "…had to be there…"
He gave up and turned away. "You think it would've been any easier for me to have gone searching for you and just finding you dead?" He sniffed. "Which wasn't far off what happened by the way."
Sam was silent for a moment. "I know it sounds crazy. Hell, it sounds damn crazy to me now, but I was thinking of you. You'd already watched Mom and Dad die; I wanted to save you from any more of that." He huffed at little. "I must've have been pretty high on that stuff to be so stupid, huh?"
He heard Dean smirk a little at that. "Nah. You've always been that stupid little bro." He paused. "I guess it doesn't matter now huh?"
Sam smiled sadly. "No. It doesn't."
They were both thinking of the Doc.
Dean turned back, offering a small smile of his own. "You 'bout ready to move your big ass, bitch?"
Sam rolled his eyes, relieved. "Jerk."
May be things would be ok.
They got up and carried on with their harsh journey.
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I rather liked writing this chapter. Nothing like a good rumble eh?
To Jenilee, and anyone else that was wondering, I removed that other story because I just wasn't happy with it. It needs more thought and more work. Not to worry. I will work on it eventually. Have some other ideas on the go right now though.
Regards,
ST.xxx.