Hate is a four-letter word

Disclaimer: Nope still nothing but my fevered imagination working overtime as per usual. So Eric Kripke has the honour of owning Supernatural and the characters we all love to hurt.

Disclaimer Number 2: Very important, this story is going to contain hate crime I just want to say that I do not advocate any kind of hate crime ever, in fact it goes against all of my principles but it will be a very important part of the story. I am hoping that the ending will resolve issues brought up throughout the plotline.

Warning: Graphic violence and sexual assault if you are squeamish about these things then please go read one of my tamer stories.

Author's Note: This chapter is for 1Pagan3 your wish is my command, hope you enjoy it Sweety.

AND big sorries for being so late, between searching for a new home and assessment time at Uni real life has been steadily encroaching on my writing time. But better late than never!!

CHAPTER 14

Sam sat staring at Caleb with an unwavering glare, he didn't blink, he didn't move he just ... stared.

'You okay Sammy?' Caleb finally asked the staring game getting too much for him, he stood up and went to crouch in front of the younger man, 'you want something?'

'Where dad go?'

'To find your brother Sammy remember.'

'Nope Bobby went for Dean, where did dad go?'

'Sammy?'

'Dad's gone way coz I was bad.' Sam frowned slightly but kept his unblinking stare fixed on Caleb's face, 'he had to leave coz of me.'

'Whatcha talking about Sammy?'

'I did stuff that was bad, an' dad got mad an' he had to go way.' Sam sniffled and ran his hand under his nose, 'Dean not mad but he gone too, bad man took Dean way.'

'Okay you're losing me Sammy what do you know?'

'Bad man hurt Dean and took him to bars, but dad had to leave us an' go to the other place.' Sam shook his head sadly, 'didn't say bye bye.'

'Sammy?'

'Man hurt Dean ... Sammy want to help but ... try to get words all funny.' Frustrated Sam started to bang his head back against the wall, 'dumb Sammy.'

'No, no Sammy you're not dumb some bad men hurt you that's all.' Caleb tried to console Sam but he suddenly felt overwhelmed and unsure of how to handle this new phase.

'Sammy dumb got Dean hurt ... got dad ... dad said ... dad said Sammy wrong.' Sam's rocking backwards became more violent until he bashed his head against the wall, with such force that he cracked the plaster and left specks of blood on the sharper pieces, 'dad said Sammy wrong, Sammy dumb.'

'No, hey Sammy look at me, you gotta stop that Sammy you'll hurt yourself.' Caleb tried to pull the distraught young man away from the wall, 'damn it Sam.'

Sam stopped moving and opened his mouth as a mournful wail erupted from deep within him, he threw himself against the wall and punched it as hard as he could muster. Not his full strength but enough to re-injure his hand and place a large hole in the wall. 'No, no, no, no, Sam gone, Sam gone, hurts he hurts an' he gone.'

'Sammy, hey Sammy please look at me.' Caleb cupped Sam's face in his hands and made him look at him, 'that's it calm down, shh it's alright.'

'Sammy bad, bad boy. Daddy went way coz Sammy bad.' Sam sobbed, 'bad boys get punished. Make daddy come back, Sammy be good, promise Sammy be good.'

'Ah dude your dad he can't come back but he loves you, and he doesn't think you're bad.'

'Uhhuh he does,' Sammy sniffed, 'kept makin' 'stakes, hold Deanie back. Don' wanna hold Deanie back. Sammy go an' Deanie and dad be okay.'

'No Sammy, no Deanie wouldn't want you to go away and neither would your dad, they want you to stay here with us and get better.'

'Deanie so sad, Sammy made Deanie sad.'

'No, no you didn't Sammy the bad man he made Deanie sad coz he took him away from you.'

'Deanie not mad wif Sammy?'

'Nope he's not. Sammy where has Sam gone?' Caleb asked carefully and waited to see if it would set Sam off again.

'He hurts so bad, bad man was mean to him.' Sammy said staring at Caleb with tear filled eyes, 'he did bad things and Sam has to hide so...'

'So what Sammy?'

'Sam not 'kay so... he hide way in here.' Sammy hit his head and then as quickly, as he started talking and interacting with Caleb Sammy found some more paper and crayons and started to draw again, his mysterious symbols. One after another, all symmetrical and in order, painstakingly sketched out to the finest detail.

Caleb sat back on his haunches and scrubbed his hand over his face, 'Sammy can I see your hand?'

'Sore.'

'Yeah I know what me to fix it for you?'

'Uhhuh.' Sammy nodded his head but kept drawing as he held his bleeding hand out to Caleb. Chuckling to himself at the sight, Caleb got the first aid kit and made quick work of fixing Sammy's hand, 'at least you keep hurting the same hand.'

S—D

Bobby cursed and slammed his fist against the bars, the door to the cell swung open on the impact but it did nothing to alleviate his frustration. 'Too freaking late.' He growled turning his anger onto the scant furniture of the office he raged until he felt Clay's hand on his shoulder.

'Bobby we gotta get goin, we got a lead.'

'What?'

'Got a witness, seems legit.' Clay said jutting his head towards the outer door, 'they said they watched these strange officers bundle what looked like an unconscious man or a dead body into the back of a van. Got a good description and that they went west, further into the industrial side of town.'

'So what we doin' here then?' Bobby flexed his fingers and winced, 'dang it all.'

'You okay old man?'

'Nuff of the old.' Bobby snapped but with a small smile taking the edge of his tone.

They drove through the west end of the small town slowly, watching carefully for the van. After an hour of driving, they were ready to call it a night and get back to Sam when Will caught a glimpse of the van they were looking for.

S—D

The sounds of boots hitting the wooden veranda made Caleb frown and slowly stand, he patted Sam's shoulder and went to stand at the window, 'probably just the guys.' He muttered not sure if he was trying to convince himself or Sam.

'Bad men, bad men, bad men, bad men.' Sam started to chant and rock himself as he started to panic and Caleb felt shivers run down his spine. The door splintered and wood fragments showered the room, Sam started to keen and his muttering became louder as the men stormed the room. Caleb took two of them from behind before more men who followed the first line overpowered him.

'Caleb.' Sam cried out watching the men approach him, terrified he pushed back against the wall and tried to workout what was going on. 'Dean!'

'Shut the fuck up and get up freak.' A sharp and angry voice yelled at him, and Sam tried to curl into a tight ball and cover his ears with his hands, a low monotonous keen came from deep within him.

'Shut the freak up and get him out of here.' The order was given but when they went to touch Sam the men couldn't touch him, two more tried and again they were repelled from the distraught young man. 'Get him now.'

'No, don't touch Sammy.' Sam cried out and concentrated harder on making himself smaller, and invisible to the men. The barrier sparkled around him preventing from any of the men with blond hair and blue eyes attacking him. one almost succeeded in getting him from behind but suddenly he flew backwards and crashed into a wall blood pouring from his eyes, nose and ears. 'Don't touch Sammy.' Sam cried again and pushed out with his mind wanting the bad men to go away.

Caleb stood slowly and winced as he waited for his focus to clear and he surveyed the damage done to the motel room. Three men lay unconscious around Sam, another one had his neck twisted in a grotesque and unnatural way, and his eyes bulged and looked as though he cried tears of blood before he died.

'Sammy?' he stumbled over to his young charge and dropped to his knees not sure what to do, 'Sammy, it's me Cal.'

'Cal? Bad men gone?'

'Yeah dude you could say that.'

'Sammy don't like the bad men.'

'Caleb's not to fond of them either dude.' Cal grinned ruefully and tried to wipe some of the blood trickling down his face, 'can you get up?'

'Uhhuh.' Sammy nodded and slowly unfolded his long limbs, with movements more like a newborn colt trying to stand than an expertly trained young hunter he was not so long ago. 'Sammy hurts.'

'Where dude?'

'Sammy hurts in here.' Sam pointed to his chest, 'hurts Caleb.'

'Anywhere else?'

'Yeppers Sammy hurts in head.' Sam squinted down at Caleb, 'Cal got owies.'

'Yeah but I'm tough.'

'Sammy tough too.'

'Dude we have to get out of here and find somewhere else to hide until the others come back.'

'Sammy wait for Deanie.' Sam said stubbornly and started to sit down again.

'Yeah we wait for Dean but we have to find somewhere safer they found us here.'

'Sammy scared Cal.'

'We're gonna be okay,' Caleb tried to find the words to comfort Sam, but this new child-like Sam was terrifying him, he was used to the sensitive but super-smart Sam who was a whiz as a researcher and a more than capable fighter and hunter. Now to be reduced to a small boy's mentality it was scary.

'Caleb okay?'

'Caleb's okay, Sammy.' Cal swayed slightly and blinked furiously, 'but we have to get going, just gonna find somewhere safe.'

'Okkies Cal ... Sam's says it's okay.' Sammy said with a distracted look on his face.

Caleb blinked and for a nano-second, he thought he saw a glimmer of the old Sam before the childish mask take hold.

Carefully he ushered Sam out of the cabin and headed towards the shedding at the back of the small property. It was not much but at least Caleb could protect Sam better there.

Just as he got inside the door, everything started to swirl around Caleb, as he bit down on the rising nausea he turned to look around the shed and guided Sam towards a stack of old hessian sacks and went to shut and lock the door when his knees buckled and he collapsed unconscious and bleeding profusely from a deep gash on the back of his head.

'Caleb?' Sammy called out his voice sounding very young and scared, 'Caleb scarin' Sammy.' As he took a deep breath Sam crawled over to Caleb and ran his long tapered fingers along his friend's face, he stared in wonderment at the bloodstains on his fingertips. 'Caleb wakey now.'

Sam started to sob and cradled Caleb's head on his lap, he gently stroked the man's face and called to him but there was no sign of any consciousness at all.

'Please Caleb I can't do this myself.' Sam whispered his green eyes shining in the dying light, as tears trickled down his face, 'I don't know what to do Caleb, where's Dean?'

Sam stared out through the still open door, not wanting to shut it and not see anyone else coming. There was no movement in the cabin, none of the men left in there had come out, though Sam had little recollection of what happened in there.

All he knew was that Caleb was badly hurt and Sam was too scared to move, he hated the feeling and he couldn't understand why he felt like it. He could remember only fragments and then they were fuzzy pieces, like a television without an antenna, snowy and out of focus. 'Dean where are you?' He whispered and tried to blink away his tears.

The warmth on his knee made Sam look down and he saw the blood pooling under Caleb's head, he took in the pallor of his flesh and the cold clamminess when he touched him. 'What do I do Cal?' Sam whispered desperately he wanted to return to drawing his symbols and be away where it didn't hurt so much.

With a deep breath or two Sam slowly stood up and carefully rested Caleb's head on some of the sacks, 'I'll be back Cal.' Sam whispered, 'Dean will know what to do.'

He made sure that Caleb was comfortable and armed before stumbling from the shed, he stood swaying drunkenly staring forlornly at the cabin, and then down the driveway. No cars remained on the property, no sign of any coming closer, he twisted around and stared at the shed before he lurched towards the driveway. He had to get help, he'd find Dean and Dean will know what to do. Dean always knows what to do.

TBC