Pre-series. Dean is 20, Sam almost 16.
I don't own any of the characters. All mistakes are mine.
Let me know if this is worth continuing- I'm not sure my heart is in this one.
"Boys, get up." John Winchester hollered from down the hall of the rented house he and his two sons were currently residing in.
Sam, the youngest of the siblings opened an eye blearily. It was still dark in the bedroom meaning the sun hadn't even woken up yet. He dared to turn his face into the pillow and ignore his fathers military tone, easily falling back into the blissful slumber he'd been so rudely pulled from just a second ago.
Big brother Dean however, wouldn't dare to show such disobedience and was already half dressed when he turned on the light and hauled Sam up and out of the covers.
"Come on man, lets just get this over with." Dean said throwing Sam his duffel.
Their father was insisting on extra training and cardio sessions after a particularly close call with a skin walker on their last family hunt together. Sam had been moody, questioning every angle of play which had in turn distracted Dean and caused bickering that had given away their position. They were damn lucky John had had the focus and concentration for the three of them and had taken care of the creature before it could make a swipe for one of them. The oldest Winchester had been furious with them for being so careless and even though his eldest son was twenty years old, the shame on Deans face for disappointing his idol had been evident. He'd been keen to make up for his mistakes and had been following every order methodically since the near doomed hunt.
"Boys!" John yelled impatiently, his already deep and rumbling voice becoming even more gruff.
"Coming." Dean replied lacing up his boots quickly.
Sam gaped at the clock on the nightstand. 4.05 am. "You gotta be kidding me!"
"Shut up Sam." Dean hissed. Johns punishments were old school, much like his personality so they'd had their meals rationed, been made to polish their boots and iron out every crease in their bedding and clothes as well as double exercise, sparring and target practice.
Sam begrudgingly changed into hike and weather appropriate clothing. He pulled a beanie over his unruly hair and followed Dean out into the hallway and into the kitchen.
"We're leaving in exactly two minutes so hurry up and do your bathroom business." John ordered, not even looking up as he packed up emergency supplies methodically into three separate packs.
"Well good morning to you too dad. What's for breakfast?" Sam said sarcastically causing Johns head to whip up and glare at his younger son. "Don't you start boy, I don't want any of your shit today." John warned pointing a finger at Sam.
Sam just stared right back until Dean gave him a hard hit to the rib as a second warning.
It was a 30 minute drive to where the trail began and Sam hated every minute of the journey listening to his father and Dean reminisce and bond over previous hunts. The pride in Johns voice when he spoke to Dean was a clear and striking difference to how he ever spoke to Sam. Sam just yawned and tried to ignore them both as he picked at some loose thread on his pants. It was early spring but still cold enough in the mornings to feel like winter and the car was misting up with condensation. Sam didn't even bother wiping the window down, he didn't care where they were headed and just wanted the morning over with so he could get back and study.
It was still dark when they began their trek. The objective being to reach the top of a particularly treacherous mountain trial within 4 hours using the most challenging route. Each armed with a flashlight in hand and their own supply kit on their back, John led the trio with Dean right behind him. Sam purposefully left a few metres gap and kept his head down as John rambled on about precaution and staying safe whilst on hunt.
Once they left the street lamps from the road behind, the trail was incredibly dark and the cloud blanket in the sky above them left no gaps for the stars or the moon to shine through.
Sam tripped over a jutting rock and put his hands out to save himself from completely hitting the floor. Sam swore under his breath as his flashlight died on impact with the floor and his left hand was cut open. He quickly tried to scramble to his feet in an effort to not attract the attention of his family but Deans strong arms hooked under his arms and lifted him up with minimal effort. "You okay?" he could just about see Deans smiling features as he brushed himself off hastily
"Uh, yeah, I just tripped-"
Johns figure strode down to the two of them impatiently. "Sam you need to do better than this." he scolded with a frown. "We're not even ten minutes in at you've gotton yourself an injury and a busted flashlight. If this were a hunt, you'd be costing us precious time and would be a distraction to Dean and I, all because you weren't looking where you were going. No more mistakes. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir." Sam looked down, his cheeks burning with a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment. John looked over his hand roughly. "Its just a scratch. This time. Lets get going. Dean, follow on behind Sammy, he'll need your light to see now."
Sams hands balled into fists to stop himself from biting back with a remark, the cut stinging painfully.
John strode on ahead confidently and eagerly.
"Hey, cool it man. He's just looking out for you." Dean whispered behind him.
Sam scoffed in reply. Right now he felt like running off into the darkness of the trees either side of them and never looking back. His dad and Dean could go and live happily ever after in their little hunter bubble without a whiny adolescent messing everything up for them.
They reached an impressive ridge just after six am and John allowed a rest stop for water and protein snacks. Sam sat with his legs dangling over the cliff edge as he swigged his bottled water. All three of them watched silently as the sun started to come up in the distance, clouds parting to reveal the beauty of the sky. There weren't many perks to the hunter life but being up early enough on location allowed for some pretty phenomenal views.
"Beautiful ain't it?" Johns voice came behind him.
"Sure is." Sam replied agreeing with his father for the first time in weeks. He looked up at John thoughtfully and watched as his dark eyes lightened as the sun hit them. The weathered and pissed off hunter with a constant five o clock shadow and deep frown lines for at least a moment looked peaceful as if his world were not so dissimilar to their current next door neighbour Mr Harrison who filed tax returns for a living and mowed his lawn every weekend. For a moment, he was simply a man without the weight of the world on his shoulders. As much as Sam butted heads with the man and failed to understand his logic and decisions, it was times like these that reminded Sam that his father wasn't an invincible God who lacked emotion and empathy. He was in fact human.
Of course that moment soon did pass, much like the others and John was barking orders again as they carried on the trail and Sam was back to frowning at him behind his back.
Some time later, the trio were making their way through an overgrown passageway between two giant rock faces that led into a vast wooded area. The recent heavy rainfall in the area had made the greenery surrounding them dense and it was difficult to figure out where the pathway was.
"You can tell why nobody ever comes this way." Grumbled Dean rummaging in his pack for a knife to cut back some of the taller and thicker plants.
John assessed the area and took a look at the map he had stuffed into his jacket pocket. "Sam, help your brother." he commanded without looking up.
Sam pulled out his own knife wondering what good the small blade would do against some of the shrubbery and made his way over to join Dean.
His older brother had stopped attacking the bushes in frustration and was crouched down examining something with a look of disgust on his face. As Sam got closer he realised it was a doe, or what was left of one at least. It was essentially just skin, fur and bone now with a very gory wound to its neck and facial area that had almost ended in decapitation. The animal had clearly been dead a while and smelt foul with flies nesting and surrounding the corpse.
"Hey dad, cope take a look at this." Dean called back to him.
John, never one to be bothered by the stink of the dead made a quick examination of the doe and lifted a section of it up revealing that it really was just a bag of bones.
"Huh." Dean looked at his father, trying to figure out what he was thinking. "Cougar?"
Johns eyes narrowed as he scanned the surrounding shrubs, branches and trees, tracking the does last movements. "More than likely." he said unconvincingly. "We should keep going."
Sam exhaled in irritation. John was doing his cryptic routine again where he gave the least amount of information out that he possibly could.
John purposely took the lead again by at least five metres and both of his sons could see he was now in hunter mode. He made short work of the greenery in his way, stomping his big boots over plant life and broken trees easily. Sam and Dean walked side by side.
"What are you thinking?" Sam asked in a whisper.
"I don't know man. Could've just been a cougar or a wolf." Dean shrugged looking a lot like John.
Sam deadpanned. "Come on Dean, the thing was drained of blood. I bet dad brought us out here on purpose to teach us some stupid lesson about precaution."
"Shut up Sam." Dean butt in with a frown. "The mans not even packing."
"Dads always packing. Just like you are. Are you in on this too? Don't tell me it's another 'Sammy needs to learn day' because I swear-" and just like that Sam lost his footing again over thick tree root veering him off to the right and down onto his hands and knees again. Before he knew what was happening the rock and dirt beneath him crumbled and gave way taking him with it. Sam slid down a jagged and muddy slope at least fifty feet down, landing ungracefully on his stomach. Winded, Sam rolled around for a little bit gasping for breathe.
"Sammy!" Deans panicked yell came right on queue.
"I'm alright." Sam called back up to him as soon as he had recovered, his voice a little strained. After a moment Sam got to his feet, a hand nursing his chest area. He looked up at the impressive drop. It was near vertical and Sam was surprised he hadn't been worse off from the fall. Not one of the Winchesters had even realized how close they had been to the edge of such a drop. His father and brother were peering down at him, clearly in conversation with each other as to how they were going to get to him.
"Are you injured?" John called.
"No, just a little banged up. I don't think I'm going to be able to climb back up this, I'll check out the area and see if there's another way." Sam replied
"Negative. You stay where I can see you. We've got rope, just sit tight." John said and he and Dean looked to be organizing the rescue.
"Stay where I can see you? What am I? Five?" Sam murmured out loud before taking a good look around him for the first time. It was quite a sheltered area with a small stream running across it. It was very rocky, with nooks and hidey holes for animals to shelter from harsh weather. Sam climbed up onto one of the rocks to look beyond but was met with yet another sudden drop with a body of water that the stream ran into. It was confirmation that he was indeed stuck for now.
"Not long now Sammy." Deans voice soothed from above.
Sam took a seat on the rock. His hands were in a lot of pain now so he took some time to clean the cuts with his water. He was about to take a swig when something colorful caught his eye from the smaller boulders below him. It looked like a turquoise tent like materiel. Sams brows furrowed, curiosity getting the better of him. He got to his feet and carefully lowered himself down towards the turquoise. After a minute he had succeeded. He made to pick up the materiel but it was stuck so he batted away some of the smaller rocks and branches around it. It looked very much like an old washed out jacket. Sam gave it a tug again and it was free, along with the highly decomposed body inside it. Sam yelled in shock and scrambled back at the discovery of a human women, judging by the long blonde hair and long dead sunken facial features.
"Sam! Talk to me." John shouted clearly concerned.
Sam stared at the body, trembling in shock. He'd seen his fair share of the dead but this rattled him. He'd been completely unprepared for it. Catching his breathe, he knew he had to respond to his dad.
"I'm fine." he lied, chocking back a bit of embarrassing emotion that had crept up on him. "Dad, there's a body down here."
There was a delay before Deans voice called "Another deer?"
"No." Was all Sam could manage in reply. He looked further on past the poor women and could see a narrow cave, much too small for him to fit through but there were signs of disturbance around it and when Sam edged closer, many animal bones littering the mouth of the cave. When Sam listened closely, he could hear a low growling. Sam squinted into the cave, his heart now racing but he found himself unable to back away, curiosity really getting the better of him now. Red eyes, still and glaring met Sams gaze and it was then he knew he was in trouble.
To be continued...maybe.