Dean drove to an army base, and found Ellen and her daughter waiting.
Sam got out, and let Bandit out. Bandit immediately stood to the left side of his partner and sat patiently. He knew the drill just as we as Sam did himself.
Sam walked up to the gate and flashed his ID.
"Captain Winchester, here to see Lieutenant Rodriguez."
"One moment," said the soldier at the gate. A few moments later, the gate opened. "They're waiting for you at hanger one zero three, good luck."
Sam nodded, and lead the others onto the base. A car was waiting, and Sam grasped arms with the soldier there.
"Carlos, good to see you," he said.
"Professor, good to have you back. And this must be the infamous Dean," said Carlos, eyeing up the other Winchester.
"You've heard of me?" he said, shaking the man's hand.
"You kidding? The Prof never shuts up about his big brother!"
"Are the others here?" asked Sam.
"Ready and waiting, and eager to meet the infamous Dean," said Carlos. "Hop in. The flight leaves in about five minutes once everyone's ready."
"Hold up, flight? Where exactly are we going?" said Dean alarmed.
"Africa, near Egypt," said Carlos without taking his eyes off the road.
"Sammy, you didn't say anything about flying!" said Dean accusingly.
Sam eyed his brother for a moment.
"Dean, we have drugs to knock people out if you don't want to fly," said Sam.
Dean didn't say anything, but the way his eyes shifted confirmed that particular suspicion.
"So what are we dealing with?" asked Ellen seriously.
They walked into the hanger where Sam made basic introductions. The team had only ten men, but there was a look in their eyes that said they had seen things. Things that would drive most men mad.
One of them drew Ellen's immediately attention, mostly because she could tell he was a werewolf. It was mostly in the scarring though.
"Not bad, eh?" he joked. "The surgeons took over eleven hours and twelve blood transfusions to save my sorry ass...if it wasn't for Sam the 'Moonlit' division would have had me shot and claimed I was killed in action."
Jo was definitely interested.
Sam came back with a file, and everyone loaded up. Dean bore with the initial take-off long enough to hear the report.
Sam made sure the headset was set to a private channel. The pilots could alert them if something was up, but for the most part wouldn't hear anything they shouldn't.
"Okay, so reports say we're dealing with a possible possession or witch in the area."
"Possible possession?" said Ellen.
"We have signs that they were robbing a tomb a few weeks prior...no known survivors but there's a possibility one did escape and is now possessed by something."
"So what are we dealing with? I mean there has to be more than just a witch here, right?" said Jo.
"...There's possible terrorist activity and maybe a ritual. Several guard posts have been attacked, and some of the men are missing," said Sam. "Our job is to deal with the threat, and if we're exceptionally lucky, bring the men home."
Dean, in an effort to distract himself from flying, decided to broach into what exactly got Sammy on the higher up's radar. And earned him the name "professor" of all things.
"So Sammy, how exactly did they find out you were a hunter?" said Dean.
"Come on Prof, tell the story!" cheered Carlos.
"Yeah Prof, why not remind us how much of a bad ass you are," said Rodriguez.
Sam sighed, mostly in exasperation, but also in fondness.
"Alright, alright... we were in the middle of god knows where when the CO insisted we stop for the night..." started Sam.
Sam's POV, four years ago...
Sam knew something was wrong the moment they made camp. He had heard some of the locals talking about a series of bear attacks that happened every couple of decades when they stopped for supplies in town.
The problem was that Sam recognized the pattern pretty quick. Add in the bad feeling he had and the fact that he overheard some of the deputies talking about people going missing and possible bear attacks, and he knew something was up.
Hearing someone call for help, Sam knew it was a trap.
His CO lead three men to find the person calling out. The rest stayed back to protect the camp.
Then they heard the screams. Sam had an idea where this was going, which was why he immediately took action.
"Make a ring of fire, do it now!" said Sam immediately.
He couldn't remember what exactly the protection symbols were, but he did remember Wendigo hated fire.
"What about the Sergeant?" said Rick.
"If what they went after is out there, we'll have better luck in the morning," said Sam grimly. "If I'm wrong he can bitch me out later."
Scared out of their wits, and following the only one who felt like they knew what they were doing, the other soldiers made a ring of fire with some gas they had for the trucks. Hearing the sound of snarling and things best not mentioned, they were terrified.
Sam, however, was determined. And he had Bandit with him, helping to keep guard.
By morning he was exhausted. He had kept guard the entire night, keeping the fire up to keep the monster out.
Everyone was just as exhausted, having stayed up the entire night out of fear. Both for themselves and for the four men who went out.
Seeing everyone look to him was intimidating as hell. But Sam had grown up a hunter, however much he disliked it.
Which was why Sam ignored his exhaustion, drew on his experience with hunting, and manned up.
"We've bought a temporary reprieve. Right now it's backed off, but it's going to come back and this thing is nasty."
"What is it?" asked Jake.
Sam sighed.
"If I'm right, it's a Wendigo."
"A what?" said Rick.
"Wendigo. It's a creature that knows how to hunt humans and can mimic human voices," said Sam. "I could go into details, but we don't have that much time."
"Give me one good reason we should go after this thing," said Derrick. Sam had already labeled him a major dick.
"Because there's a pretty good chance that the others might be alive," said Sam, getting the attention of everyone. "The Wendigo is a hunter, but it also knows how to survive a long time. It will take them back to wherever it's holed up and use them as rations until it goes into hibernation. However, not all of it's victims will be killed. Sometimes it will take people live into the den."
"This is complete bullshit," said Derrick.
"I don't need you to believe me, I just need you to follow my lead," said Sam, glaring at him.
Derrick tried to stare Sam down, but couldn't. Sam had been through too much for too long to give even a damn about some moron who refused to listen. If he wanted to die, he could do it on his own time.
The soldiers didn't know what to do or what was going on, but they did know Sam knew what was going on and what they could do to save their friends.
Sam took a deep breath. He was supposed to be a simple soldier, so this was throwing him for a loop. So he mentally asked himself what his brother would do...and took control.
"First things first, our guns won't do jack to kill it. It'll just piss it off," said Sam bluntly. "Second, this thing is an amazing hunter...it's good in the day and better than we'll ever be at night."
"Is that why you told us to make a fire ring?" asked Rick.
"Wendigo are weak to fire. It's pretty much one of the only things that will kill it," said Sam. "Which is why we're going into town to get flare guns and everything we can get our hands on to make a molotov cocktail. Then we're going to ask the locals if there are any abandoned caves or other areas were people tend to go missing more often than most. That's where we're going to find this bastard."
They must have made a sight, going into town the way they did. The sheriff didn't even bother asking what they needed, just gave Sam the information that would lead them to their men.
They went through the woods, not really bothering to hide their nerves. Bandit's nose lead them to the mine shaft. He was clearly agitated, but didn't growl. He was too well trained.
It wasn't until they found the first dog tags that things became real to the others. Their expressions became resolved, and they all silently agreed this thing wasn't going to live another day.
"Sergeant!" said Rick, spotting them first.
Closer inspection revealed the man was dead...he had bleed out from a nasty gash to the artery in his neck. The other three were wounded, but not mortally so. If they got them out now they might have a chance of surviving.
However Sam also knew that this thing would likely attack once they tried to retreat. They would be carrying wounded and thus would have less manpower than before.
Which was why they were going to set a trap. Sam had noticed a side tunnel that lead into this chamber, and he had no doubt the Wendigo was waiting for them.
It was as they were about to leave that a glint caught off the torch in his hand. He bent down and found...a necklace? Whatever it was, it was old. Possibly twenty or thirty years old. It looked like gold, but he couldn't be sure.
Sam put it in his pocket and they headed out.
When they reached the intersection, Sam had them lay a line of flammable liquid in front of the chamber they had just come from. And another in front of the second chamber.
While the Wendigo might smell it, the temptation of fresh prey might draw it out into the trap anyway.
However that meant someone would have to lie in wait.
Sam had Rick hold Bandit's leash, which did not make his partner happy in the least. An understanding passed between him and the men...they knew the risk entailed from Sam's decision, and respected him for it.
Those who were unoccupied by carrying either the wounded or the corpse of their fallen CO armed themselves with flare guns.
Hearing the roar, they waited for the creature to step past the unseen line of liquid.
Sam tossed his torch down. The heat was intense, but the roar of rage from the Wendigo made it worth it.
"Fire!" shouted Evans, and the flare guns went off.
The rage turned into a roar of pain as fire struck the Wendigo, and the men grimly watched as the monster died in agony.
Sam waited until the thing wasn't moving, before carefully using a bit of dirt to make a path.
The monster was dead.
In the hospital...
The men looked like hell, but there was a grim satisfaction knowing they had killed the monster once and for all.
Sam was returning from using the bathroom when he spotted an older woman with her very pregnant daughter and possibly a grandson.
He didn't know what made him do it. Perhaps it was the spirit of the woman who owned the necklace he had found by accident. On the back was an engraving that said "To Connie, love Amy".
Something told him the older woman was Amy.
He walked up to her, Bandit faithfully staying by his side.
"Excuse me ma'am...is your name by any chance Amy?" he asked politely.
The older woman looked surprised.
"My name is Amelia. I haven't been called Amy in years," she said in surprise.
Sam reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
"Ma'am...I think this belongs to you."
Amelia took the item Sam had in his hands...and immediately had to be steadied when she registered what it was.
"Mom?! What did you just give her?" demanded her irate daughter.
Amelia had to sit down, her legs unsteady. There were tears streaming down her face.
"Grandma, what is it?" said the little boy.
"This...this was Connie's," said Amelia, crying.
Sam went down to eye level with the older woman.
"Something told me this was yours. I think Connie wanted to be sure you had it," he said gently.
Amelia was beside herself.
"Is she... where was she?" said Amelia.
"The thing that took your sister is gone. We made very sure of that. But I believe Connie wanted to be found a bit early, so she made sure I found her necklace and delivered it to you," said Sam gently. The last thing this poor woman needed to hear was something had quite literally eaten her sister. "I'm sorry it took so long for her to come home, and that this was the only thing I could bring with me."
He was sure the sheriff or whatever authorities there were would go back and retrieve the other remains, if only for closure.
"Thank you, young man. This is more than enough," said Amelia. Her eyes were red, but filled with intense emotion.
It was only later Sam found out that they had retrieved the missing dog tags of no less than seven fallen soldiers.
On the plane...
Everyone was silent, especially the hunters. Finally, Carlos spoke up...
"Damn Prof, you never told us what happened to the necklace before."
"To be fair, I never really thought about it," said Sam.
"So how did you end up as a captain?" asked Jo.
"Oh, one of the generals interrogated us afterwards and everyone pointed him in my direction. After about ten hours of poking and prodding in an interrogation room I finally caved about knowing exactly what a wendigo was. Once I had a proper night's sleep, he called me in again and explained that the military did actually know about the supernatural, they just had next to no real experience or intel on how to deal with it," said Sam. "So he offered me a deal...he'd give me an in on officer training school and would let me keep my dog once I was back in the States, and in exchange I would help them learn how to be hunters. Once I finished enough classes to become a Captain, they introduced me to Carlos and the others."
"We went from being lucky to survive one in three hunts without a bad injury to one in ten," said Carlos proudly. "The professor knew more about hunting than we could have learned on the job in ten years."
"Yeah, and Bandit is our lucky charm!" said Rodriguez.
Bandit barked, making them all laugh.
"So why do you call him the professor?" asked Dean. He was so interested in the story he mostly forgot his fear of flying. Mostly.
"Because I told them the reason I joined was to get some cash to pay once I got to Stanford, and because I was something of a walking encyclopedia for hunting," said Sam with fond amusement. "One of the new guys called me the 'professor' because I was teaching them about ghosts and the name stuck."