happy holidays everyone! i was able to get two chapters done today. :) i didnt want to leave you all with that mean little cliffy, though there is one on this chapter as well. i will be pretty busy, (christmas really snuck up on me this year) and i may not be able to post till tuesday. so i figured i would do a holiday twofer. as always, enjoy and let me know what you think. :)
PS: just thought i'd add this about Dean wanting to fly. one, the poor guy has a fever. lol. and two, i always thought he wasnt so much afraid of hights as afraid of not being in control of the airplane. lol, though i still did think it was funny. :)
D: just for fun.
SOMETHING LOST
Chapter 20
The cold air grew heavier as the quiet darkness wrapped around them, the shadows mocking them, pulling at them, challenging them as the world around them faded into oblivion. They could all smell the ozone, feel the charge in the air, the icy fingers dancing up and down their spines. The spirit was coming, and it was coming for Dean.
It had lured them into a trap, brought them here, shrouded them in an impenetrable darkness. It was drawing them back, bring them to the caves, down into the caverns where it had been trapped, where she and her son had been murdered. It wanted Dean to die the same way they had, blamed him for their demise, and in-turn decided to punish him for something he had not done. It had been planning his death ever since he struck that match, ever since it pulled him down into the darkness, down beneath the earth, but Michael and Annabel had gotten in the way. They had found him, taken him to safety, taken him to friends and family, and now the spirit wanted him back, and it didn't seem to care who got in the way.
"This can't be good." Dean's weak and shaky voice broke through the silence, fading into the darkness that he was completely lost to. While neither Sam nor Kerri could see him they could both hear it in his words, feel it in his touch; he was fading fast, the infection finally taking over his ailing body.
"What was you're first clue." Sam mumbled as he felt his brother's forehead, his fear growing as the heat beat off the older man. At the rate they were going the spirit woman wouldn't have to kill him. "Kerri, do you have the bags?"
"They're over by the other wall, I'll get them." Kerri began to crawl along the rocky floor, her eyes staring hard into the darkness, completely blinded to everything that was around her. She nearly screamed when a large, strong hand clamped down on her calf, holding her back when she tried to move. "What the hell."
"Stay here." Dean's voice was weak, but his grip on her leg was like a vice, his arm shaking as he held onto her, clung to her like a lifeline.
"I'm just going to be a few feet away."
"No. Stay here."
"Dean, I need to get our stuff."
"No." He whispered again, his hand clenching her leg even tighter, heat radiating down his arm and into her cold body. "Don't go into the dark."
"Dean, she'll be ok, she's not going far."
"No. Don't you know what happens. She'll walk away into the dark and then just disappear. That's how it happens."
"I'll talk to you the whole time."
"No."
"Will you be ok if Sam goes?"
"I'll go." Dean whispered, trying to move, but Sam held him firmly in place.
"No, you definitely won't go." He stated, finally prying Dean's hand from Kerri's leg, knowing that his tight grip must have left a large bruise. Kerri crawled over to the bags as quickly as she could, Dean struggling with his brother behind her, his voice barely more then a whisper, but still heartbreaking none the less.
His fevered mind had thrown him back into the past, thrown him back to the night she had been taken by the watcher, the night she literally disappeared into thin air. She never really knew how badly that had effected him, how much he had truly blamed himself for her ordeal, for her horror. She never knew because she never blamed him, not even for a moment.
"All right, I got it." Kerri crawled back over to the brothers, resting one hand on Dean's knee, searching through one of the duffels with the other. "What are you looking for?"
"Salt." Sam answered, sifting through the other, feeling everything he came across, trying to guess what was a canister of salt and what wasn't.
"Ha." Kerri shouted a few minutes later, startling both brothers. "Found something better." Her face was suddenly illuminated in the flickering glow of the lighter, the small flame shinning through the heavy darkness. She held it over Dean first, checking his bandages and his eyes, his skin flushed and sweaty. "Not lookin' to hot there, Winchester."
"I'm always hot."
"Shine it over here for a second, I think I found the salt." Sam pulled the two canisters from the bag, standing up slowly as he opened one.
"What are you doing?"
"Making a circle around, Dean."
"It hasn't attacked him yet, you think it will now?"
"Salt won't help you, nothing will." The voice was like an icy gale, all three going rigid when the soft yet still spiteful sound fell upon their ears. There was no mistaking the venom behind her words, the declaration like ice driving into their hearts, freezing the blood in their veins.
"We didn't do anything." Sam stated, staring straight at the spirit, her eyes flickering like flames, long dark hair charred and smoldering, skin melted and black with soot. But still she smiled, a hungry, manic smile, as she stared down at Dean, shielded behind Sam and Kerri.
"He murdered a child."
"That kid was already dead, and he was killing others."
"Vengeance must be served. What type of world would we raise our children in if those that were guilty were not punished for their actions?"
"He's not guilty of anything."
"No? Do you know how many lives a person like him destroys?"
"None."
"They chased me here, I was innocent and they chased me here, set fires so I couldn't leave, then they threw my little boy in after me, tossed him to the flames like he never mattered. And they called it justice."
"That wasn't him, that wasn't us."
"Does it matter? You are all the same, so quick to judge, so eager to make other's responsible for your mistakes. And I cannot allow that."
"I'm sorry about you're son, and I'm sorry about how you were treated. It wasn't right and if I could have done something to stop it, I would have. But my brother is innocent. He doesn't deserve to die."
"I'll be the judge of that." And with those words she was gone, leaving behind an icy wind, a frozen breeze floating in her wake.
"Well." Dean whispered, closing his eyes as he leaned against Kerri. "That went well."
"Yeah, says you."
"Don't you think it's a little, odd, that she just kind of left." Kerri asked, wrapping an arm around Dean's shoulders as he began to shiver. No sooner had the words left her mouth, then the space seemed to grow hazier, the cold cavern hotter. She and Sam met eyes before their fears were realized. Fire, hot, raging fire was moving their way, blocking their exit from the mines.
"You just had to say it." Dean chided, his eyes growing wide as the flames danced, licking the walls of the tunnel as it grew closer.
"Come on. Up and at em, Dean." Sam grabbed his brother under the arms and heaved him to his feet before the older man had the chance to object. He wrapped his arm around Dean's waist and pulled him down the corridor, further and further into the mines, Kerri close at their heels.
"Sammy, slow down." Dean gasped as his brother continued to pull him down the tunnel at breakneck speed, the older hunter stumbling as he tried to match his little brother's strides.
"That's not really an option right now, Dean."
"Please."
"Turn up here." Kerri's voice rose up from behind them, the flames slowing as they neared a junction in the tunnel.
"What?"
"Just, turn up here."
"What if it's a dead end?"
"Just trust me, Sam."
"Fine." They turned the corner as quick as they could, Kerri stopping only long enough to line the entrance with salt before they continued on, coming to another large junction about a hundred meters down. "Ok, which way." Sam asked breathlessly, pulling Dean up as he scanned the cavern.
"Sammy, stop." Dean coughed out, sliding slowly from his brother's tight grasp, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps. "I can't."
"Dean?"
"Just put me down, Sam. I can't run."
"We'll be ok here for a bit." Kerri answered, she too out of breath as she sealed the other four entrances with salt, effectively shutting out the spirit and her fire. "We'll be safe until the smoke gets closer."
"Then what?"
"Well, I was hoping one of us would have a plan by then."
"Burn the bones." Dean gasped from the floor, his tired and fevered body doubled over from pain, the run having taken most of his energy.
"We need a better plan."
"What better plan, that's all there is."
"Yeah, but we don't know where they are, and now the mine's on fire."
"Always picking out the negative."
"We need some kind of distraction." Sam chimed in, pulling out a bottle of water and handing it to his brother. "You said this section of the mine is connected, right?"
"Yeah."
"And we're sure that her bones are around here somewhere?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I think it's safe to assume that she wouldn't burn her own bones."
"You know what happens when you assume, Sammy."
"Would you let me finish."
"Guys."
"Ok." Sam began again, running his hands through his shaggy hair. "Like I said, she wouldn't burn her own bones."
"And?" Kerri asked, sitting again by Dean's side.
"We find out where the fire hasn't spread to and that's where the bones are."
"No offense, Sammy." Dean mumbled, his eyes closed, head on Kerri's shoulder. "But that idea sucks."
"I don't see you coming up with one."
"It's the best we've got." Kerri jumped in before the brothers could start arguing again, everyone's nerves at their limits. "We should split up, it'd be faster. And just me and Sam." She added, looking pointedly at Dean. "No debate."
"No."
"Dean. You can't run and you're just gonna end up getting yourself burnt to a crisp." Sam added, his tired body tensing as they laid out their plan. It was reckless and a little stupid, but it was all they had.
"So what, you two'r just gonna run through the mines and hope she doesn't get you?"
"Well when you say it like that."
"It's still our only option. Do you have a map?" Sam sighed, his brother not really making this much easier. In all truth, it was the kind of plan that Dean would've come up with, and Sam knew that the only reason his older brother wasn't up for it was because he didn't get to participate.
"Yeah." Kerri answered, sifting through her pack, pulling out the old maps. "We're right here." She pointed to a mid sized cavern a few hundred meters away from the one they had started in, five shafts intersecting with it. "Now, this doesn't met up with the first or the last one. So let's just hope that this woman isn't in number seven. The longest of the tunnels in five hundred meters, the shortest is two."
"We should check to make sure she isn't in here. Because, you know, that'd be kind of ironic if you two burned up in the tunnel and the little bitch was with me the whole time." Dean stated angrily, obviously not thinking much of the others' plan.
"All right, we'll check this one." Kerri added, handing the maps and a radio to Dean.
"And." Sam began, checking to two shotguns before handing one to Kerri. "Any signs of fire you turn back. And Dean."
"Yeah?"
"Don't follow us."
"Yeah, yeah. I heard ya' the first hundred times."
"I mean it."
"You always mean it."
"That's because you always do the opposite of what I say."
"That's what brother's do. Read the handbook."
"We'll call you on the radios." Kerri broke in, her voice soft and calming, but her eyes were wide and terrified. She was in over her head, hell, they all were, but they didn't really have much of a choice. It was do or die. "We'll be fine, Dean."
"You're about to go out and play chicken with a demented ghost and her angry fire. I don't think, fine, is the right word."
"We'll be fast at least."
"Yeah, well just, hurry back. Because, you know, I get bored."
"We'll be back before you know it. All the tunnels are inter connected, it'll be hard for her to corner us."
"But not impossible."
"Nothing's impossible."
"Just, watch our backs and stay put." Sam added as he and Kerri made their way to opposite sides of the cavern, both disappearing into the growing darkness, over the lines of salt and into the line of fire, leaving Dean alone.
"They will never find me. Not before I find them."
Dean's head snapped up at the voice, his tired eyes falling on the silvery figure at the first doorway, smoke beginning to billow in from behind her.
"You're friend is smart, laying salt to try and stop me, but I will find them, and I will kill them. Unless, you surrender yourself to your fate."
"You know, I have faith in those two."
"Do you? Will you feel the same when you hear them screaming?"
"I don't intend on ever hearing that."
"Your arrogance blinds you."
"At least I'm not a bitch."
"You and your friends will never leave this place, of that I am certain."
"Well, then, you obviously don't know us at all." And with that Dean cocked his shotgun and fired, the ghost woman disappearing with an ear splitting scream. "Come on you two, prove me right."