With tremendous speed the Harley carves through the snow down the slopes of Whitehorse Mountain. It's an absolute crazy attempt to get down the mountain, but miraculously they haven't crashed yet. Sam has experienced the very best of motorsports during these terrifying moments. He tries to hold on as well as he can, because he has a feeling that if he falls off, Zo won't turn around to pick him up. Zoë sees the lights of town shimmering down below, but they soon disappear into the darkness of the forest again. Skillfully and fearless Zoë steers her bike between all sorts of obstacles. It's a good thing that the thick layer of snow and ice has equalized the grounds of these woods, otherwise it would be almost impossible to ride them. Every single movement that her Dave makes, Zoë's prepared for. Slightly hanging back in the saddle to bear the shocks from the front wheel, she corrects every slip or slide just enough the avoid the bike from spinning out of control. Finally she finds the trail and directs her bike to it, so that she can speed it up a bit more. As fast as she possibly can on this path, she races her Harley down the mountain until they reach the fallen tree at the beginning of the trail.
"Care for a little jump?", she asks her passenger.
Before Sam can answer, she steers her bike towards the tree. Startled Sam stares at the obstacle and notices the ramp like stone cover in snow besides the tree. Without hesitations Zoë moves her Dave up the ramp, causing them to lift off and fly through the air. Sam lets out a squeal when they land roughly.
"You're nuts!", Sam shouts pissed off.
"You're right about that!", Zoë replies.
They pass the cars which are still parked at the beginning of the trail, including the Impala, but there isn't enough time to switch vehicles. Without decreasing speed they ride down the narrow slippery road. Zoë remembers these back roads well, because she shows no doubt at all when she makes a right. They pass a small Hill Billy dwelling and soon after make a sharp left turn. Finally Zoë hits a decent street and ends up on 387th Ave NE. The layer of snow that covers the road is thick enough for her spiked tires to grip. Now that she has time to glare into her back mirror without tripping over fallen trees and other obstacles, she looks behind her. But what she sees is anything but comforting.
"Uhoh".
"What?", Sam wonders as he glances over his shoulder.
"Hellhounds", Zoë stammers.
Their red eyes glow up in her mirror as the beasts close in on her from out the shadow of the mountain. Quickly she stares ahead and opens the gas even more. Eventually she ends up on Arlington-Darrington Road. Despite the snowcats and other machines that are used to clear the asphalt, she curls between the large vehicles like a snake and completely ignores the road sign that claims it's 'closed'. Several working men jump out of the way startled.
"Crap crap crap!", Zoë curses.
"I can't see them", Sam says as he tries to look over his shoulder.
"That's because they're after me, knucklehead!", she replies pissed.
"What about Dean?", the youngest brother asks.
"Why do you think I'm in such a hurry?", she returns on him.
As she drives straight through Darrington without slowing down, she monitors the hellhounds closely. Despite her topspeed of a 90 miles an hour on these slippery roads, they are still closing in on her. Then she sees it, a little further up ahead. The place where everything that lead to this started in the first place; the crossroad where Powerline Road and Giles Road meet. Sam cleared the crossing with the snowcat earlier, only a thin layer of snow covers the dirt. Again she glances in her mirror as the barking dogs draw her attention again; they are only a yard behind them.
"They're too damn close!", Zoë says nervous.
Suddenly an idea pops up in her head and she glares over her shoulder for a moment to notify Sam.
"There's goofer dust in my left pocket. When I say 'now', you sprinkle it down on the ground, okay?", she tells him.
She feels his hand rummaging through her pocket after which he takes out a small bag, right before they hit the crossroad. Zoë can see the bloody teeth of the monsters behind her as they are about to go for her tires. Then she makes her move.
"NOW!"
She completely blocks her front tire by hitting the break, accelerates at the same time while she moves her weight to the left, causing her back tire to swing out. As this happens, Sam, who's still positioned on the tail of the bike, lets the dust fall down on the ground equally. Just before the hellhounds are about to jump her with wide open jaws and horrifying blood shot eyes, the circle is complete and the creatures are blocked the lines of goofer dust, Zoë brings her Harley Davidson to a stop and stares at the dogs for a moment; talking about a close call. Zoë doesn't have much time to linger though, Dean is still up Whitehorse Mountain with probably a bunch of hellhounds on his ass. Quickly they start to dig through the frozen ground. It feels like ages, but after a short time they stumble on the tin box which Zoë had buried five years ago. She opens it fast as the hellhounds rush her by barking loudly without pausing. While Zoë performs the ritual, Sam stares at the claw prints that carve into the frozen ground like it's butter, just outside the circle. At the mean time, Zoë hastily takes out the hourglass pendant and drops it in the box, then she clicks open Dean's knife and exposes her hand above the small case. In a short cut she slices open the palm of her hand and lets the drops fall down on the other objects inside the box without even flinching. Sam hands her the matches which she lights and tosses in the tin case. A chemical reaction follows, then the world seems to stand still for a moment. The barking and hauling stops, but Zoë is almost afraid to look over her shoulder to see if the hellhounds are gone. It seems so unreal, she has been fighting this for five whole years, might it now actually be over? Slowly she rises from the ground and turns around. No threatening growl, no red demonic eyes staring into hers, showing her what will be waiting for her down the pit. No black dogs, they are gone! With the disappearance of the hellhounds, the winds starts to blow again and soon develops back into the heavy blizzard as snow starts coming down from the sky. Nature comes back to life; the winds plays with her hair and feels cold yet comforting on her skin as if she's suddenly not numb anymore.
"It worked", she concludes with disbelief.
Sam sighs relieved and smiles at her, even Zoë can't help but to laugh.
"It actually freakin' worked!", she cries out as she realizes what this means.
Hopeful she turns around to face Whitehorse Mountain and scans the mountain slopes. Now all they have to do is wait for Dean's signal. Alert she looks up, but the mountain remains in the dark and slowly the smile disappears from Zoë's face.
"Dean has the flag gun, he's suppose to give us a signal", she tells Sam.
A bit out of breath they search every inch of the mountain, but they can't find a red light anywhere. Sam starts to worry and takes out his Blackberry to phone Dean. The satellite phone rings, but he doesn't answer. Nervously he stares at his phone and over at Zoë, who swallows apprehensively.
"C'mon, Dean. Fire the damn gun", she whispers.
But nothing happens and the shadows of the night seem to turn darker all of a sudden. Zoë grinds her teeth and steps outside the circle staring at the location where the hunters cabin should be. High evergreens block her view, but even with these snowfalls, a flag gun should be clearly visible. Maybe the flag gun doesn't work, maybe he dropped the satellite phone. Anything could have happened, there's no reason to panic, right? Resolute she steps towards her bike and gets back in the saddle. Sam follows her lead and throws his right leg over the Harley to sit down.
"Get off, Sam", Zoë demands.
"No, I'm coming with you. If something has happened to him…", Sam argues, but isn't able to finish his sentence.
"Don't say that", she interrupts. "You're only slowing me down. And how am I suppose to get him down when you're in the only passenger seat?"
"I'll walk, now would you just go!", Sam cries out as he start to get edgy.
With a sigh Zoë straightens her back and turns up the gas, not wanting to argue Sam at this point. He's right, they need to get up there as fast as they can. Zoë's afraid to think it, but it took them quite a while to get down. If Dean actually got the hellhounds on his tail, he wouldn't have survived long. She speeds up the highway going west, praying that Dean's okay. The idea of him ending up down south while she was the one actually making that deal isn't something she could bear. The list of casualties involving her already is way too long.