Chapter 5

The Impala pulled into the outskirts of New England, North Dakota, at midafternoon. Dean followed Sam's directions to the motel Jed was staying at and pulled into the parking lot. Bobby had called Jed earlier to get him to reserve two rooms for them, near his if possible. The parking lot was almost empty except for a few cars and an old pickup truck that sat away from the other vehicles.

"Go get our room Sammy," Dean told him as Bobby got out. "I'll go ahead and pull around back."

"Alright," Sam grunted as he heaved his tall frame from the back of the Impala stretching his back and rolling his shoulders.

Once they were clear, Dean moved the car past the office and let it slowly roll into the back parking area. He let it idle as he waited to see where their room was going to be. It wasn't long before Sam and Bobby were walking past the car and Sam motioned for Dean to follow him to an end room where he unlocked the door. Bobby stopped two doors up and unlocked another door he would be using. Jed's room was a door down from there.

Dean parked and killed the engine so he could get out and open the trunk to get their bags. Sam and Bobby gathered their bags and Dean shouldered his before closing the trunk. He headed for the room to drop the bags off and then to meet Bobby on the walkway.

"That's Jed's truck there, he said he was in room 14," Bobby told them as he stepped to the door and knocked.

They waited, hearing noises from the other side of the door and locks being thrown. Jed jerked the door open and stared bleary eyed at them, like he had just woken up. It took him a moment before he recognized Bobby and grinned.

"Bobby, glad you could make it," he greeted him, shaking his hand.

"Jed, you remember Dean and Sam, my boys?" Bobby introduced the brothers who stood back behind him.

"It's been a while, but yeah. Come on in, I think I need all the help I can get on this one."

The three hunters stepped into the motel room, glancing around at the research scattered about. The table had open file folders surrounding a laptop, the unmade bed had a map spread out on it, trash overflowed the garbage can that sat in a corner, and the smell of takeout lingered in the air.

Dean grimaced and wrinkled his nose and frowned at the mess. He glanced to Sam who was having the same reaction, though not as bad since his senses weren't as sensitive as his.

"Sorry about the mess," Jed apologized. "I was going to clean it up, but the sheriff called, there was another killing last night. They found the body this morning. I got the police report but haven't been to the morgue yet. The only difference with this one was there was a witness to the killing."

"Did you talk to this witness?" Bobby asked picking up the folders and stacking them in an orderly fashion.

"Yeah, problem was it was a young kid. He did draw this for me," Jed replied looking on the table until he found a drawing made with crayons.

Dean and Sam looked over Bobby's shoulder at the picture frowning.

"You know that looks like a cross between a wendigo and Sasquatch?" Sam asked.

"Great, we're hunting down Big Foot," Dean grumbled stepping back and rolling his eyes.

"Do you think it could be an offshoot of a wendigo or some hybrid monster?" Sam questioned.

"Look, why don't Sammy and me head to the morgue and check it out and you can brief Bobby on anything new you've found," Dean offered wanting to leave the room for some fresh air. "Oh, and how 'bout taking out your trash and opening a window? It's a little rank in here."

Bobby looked at Dean for a moment and saw the disgusted look on his face that he quickly hid. He turned back to Jed to apologize for Dean's rude remark but saw he was gathering the trash in a bag to take out and kept quiet. It seemed Dean's authoritative attitude of being alpha carried over to others too.

"Yeah, I'll do that," Jed offered as he stuffed trash into the bag he was holding. "Bobby, the newest victim's file is on top if you want to look at it."

"Alright." Bobby stepped to the table and picked up the folder to scan its contents.

"We'll be back once we've seen the body." Dean opened the door and stepped out with Sam close behind him. "Let's change and find the morgue before it gets too late."

"Yeah, maybe this one will give us a clue to what's doing these killings," Sam commented as they walked down the walkway to their room.

"Dibs on bathroom first," Dean said quickly as they entered their room. He grabbed his suit bag and headed that way before Sam could say or do anything but huff at him.

Sam sat down on the bed to wait his turn in the bathroom. He went over in his head what he knew about the case, sorting the information and discarding useless facts. He had a feeling this was something they had never seen before, and this concerned him. He was worried it might be something they couldn't kill. He was still lost in his thoughts when Dean stepped from the bathroom. His eyes were glazed over, and he ignored Dean when he spoke.

"Sammy, hey!" Dean raised his voice trying to get his attention. "Yo! Earth to Sammy!"

"What?" Sam jerked himself back to the present and blinked rapidly for a moment as he focused on his brother.

"You zoned out on me dude, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just thinking about the case." Sam got up and grabbed his suit bag and stepped into the bathroom not giving any further explanation.

Dean's brow furrowed for a moment as he listened to his brother's rapid heart rate and breathing until Sam got it under control. He knew Sam wasn't saying something and filed that away for a conversation later. He sat on the bed and slipped on his dress shoes and waited for his brother.

spn

The temperature dropped dramatically as the brothers entered the morgue and squinted at the brightness from the overhead lights. Once they could see, they looked around the large room at the stainless steel tables, seeing one had a sheet covered body lying on it.

"Can I help you?" the coroner asked when he saw them.

"Agents Shaw and Stills, FBI. We're here to see the murder victim that was found this morning," Dean told him as they pulled their badges to show him.

"FBI must be really slow to send two more agents to our small town," the coroner commented before stepping to the tables. "Hope you have strong stomachs agents, this is not a pretty sight." He pulled down the sheet to reveal the ravaged body, at least what was left of it.

Sam grabbed gloves from a box nearby and handed a pair to Dean before putting his on. They stepped up to the table and examine the body.

"We'll need a copy of the autopsy report," Sam noted as he leaned closer to study the ripped open chest, noting what looked like claw marks. He pulled his cell out and snapped pictures to reference later. The torso was empty of any internal organs, leaving an empty shell.

"Sure thing," the coroner nodded stepping away.

"This guy was literally torn into to get to his internal organs," Dean mumbled lifting the sheet to see the lower part of his body. "Even took his junk."

Sam looked up at his brother and glanced under the sheet and grimaced for a moment. He noted the missing flesh from the body and thought it looked like it was torn from the limbs and body, leaving jagged, raw, pale edges. After taking a few more photos, Sam stepped back and took off his gloves. He didn't think they would get anything else from the body but watched Dean as he leaned closer and flared his nostrils as he smelled the body wondering if he could smell whatever did this.

"Here you go agent." The coroner handed Sam a folder with his report in it.

"Any idea what did this?" Sam asked.

"A wild animal would be my best guess, but that's just my opinion."

Dean and Sam looked at each other knowing it was no animal that did this to the body.

"Thank you for your help," Dean told the coroner knowing they were done here. He shook the coroner's hand and nodded to Sam they should leave.

When they got outside, Dean shook his body as the last of the sun warmed him. Sam gave him a weird look as they got into the Impala.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked him.

"Yeah, I just hate the cold atmosphere in there," Dean replied as he cranked the car so they could head back to the motel.

"I don't think this is a wendigo. They wouldn't leave so much behind," Sam offered.

"True. They would take the entire body with them and leave no scraps."

"Did you detect anything when you smelled the body?"

"There was something there…" Dean surmised. "It smelled rant, decayed, rotten, like death."

"What next? We see where the locations of the bodies are and try to determine where this thing's hunting ground is and check it out?"

"Sounds good to me. We'll check out Jed's map and see if there's a pattern, so we'll know where to go." Dean picked up the road outside the hospital to head back to the motel and report back to Bobby.

spn

Bobby looked toward the door when several knocks sounded, echoing into the room. He got up to answer it and pulled his gun to be cautious.

"Bobby it's us," Dean called from behind the door.

"Boys," Bobby greeted them as he opened the door wide enough for them to come in.

Dean walked in first and gave the room a quick once over, seeing the trash was cleaned up and the smell was almost gone. The folders were stacked by the laptop all neat and orderly. He grunted his approval before speaking.

"This was definitely not some wild animal attack," Dean spouted. "I mean, damn Bobby, that body was torn to pieces and half of it was eaten."

"I got pictures of the wounds and claw marks," Sam added pulling out his cell. "Did the kid say anything about this monster?" Sam asked Jed.

"He was pretty out of it and they had him lightly sedated. He said it was the boogeyman and gave me the drawing."

"I've been searching the websites trying to find anything that this creature might be, but I've not had any luck," Bobby told the brothers.

"Do you think this is something we've never seen before Bobby?" Sam questioned. "Here's the latest autopsy report on the last victim." Sam handed Bobby the file.

"Jed, do you have the locations of the victims marked on that map you had? I thought Sammy and me could go check it out and see if it comes back around those places."

"You think that's a good idea since we don't know anything about it?" Bobby asked.

"We'll be sure and arm ourselves Bobby. We can take care of ourselves," Dean assured him.

"And how many times have I heard that and had to come pull your sorry asses out of the fire?" Bobby insinuated in a gruff voice.

"We'll be careful Bobby," Sam told him.

"Why don't we all go?" Jed suggested to have three sets of eyes bore into him.

"Go change boys and we'll head out," Bobby ordered them.

"Yes sir," Sam and Dean said together. They headed for the door to go to their room and change. Both brothers knew better than to argue with Bobby when he took that tone of voice.

"You get to make nice with Bobby," Sam told Dean once they were outside.

"What? Why me?" Dean questioned.

"Because he likes you better," Sam shrugged walking into their room and grabbing his clothes to head into the bathroom to change without waiting for an answer from Dean.

"Bitch."

"Jerk," Sam called over his shoulder before shutting Dean out with the bathroom door.

"Little brothers are a pain in the ass," Dean growled as he found his clothes and started changing while still grumbling under his breath.

Sam stepped from the bathroom to find Dean putting on his boots and standing to face him.

"So, what weapons should we take?" Sam asked opening the weapon's bag and looking up at Dean.

"Everything," Dean stated looking around for his jacket before heading for the door. He was blunt and to the point more now since his change. He didn't bother checking to see if Sam was coming, knowing he would.

Sam huffed and shouldered the weapon's bag as he followed his brother out the door and to the car. Dean could be irritating at times, but he knew he wouldn't change that attitude any time soon. It was something you got used to and overlooked if needed.

A/N: The hunt begins and no one knows what they are going to be up against. Will Dean's extra abilities help? Thank you for coming along for the ride. Thanks you guest Kathy for your review and kind words. I do like reviews. NC