-/-/-/ The Nightmare August 2005 Part 3

"Oh shit," he heard Dean whisper from beside him, but Adam couldn't take his eyes off the journal and the knowledge he'd just gained.

Did Dean and Sam know about this? No way. They'd have mentioned it if they knew. The brothers very rarely talked about their mother or their father's continued search for revenge, but if they had known it was a demon…Adam would have heard them say something. Right?

"Ah," Dean whispered again and Adam glanced over to see his brother rubbing his temples.

A Demon. A freaking demon killed Mary. And Dad had been tracking it for years. Adam scanned down the page again, rereading the dates and places.

Sherman.

That was the name of their last town in Texas. Dad had told them they were there on a werewolf case. He said the trail went cold, that was why they never found anything. Adam read the next name.

Wallingford.

Wait a minute.

He grabbed the map of the state of Vermont off the table, confirming what he already suspected. Wallingford was a town just outside of Rutland. Dad was here hunting the demon.

Adam's thoughts were spinning, pulling him in a hundred directions.

"Ah fuck," Dean groaned from beside him.

Adam turned to his brother ready to spill what he'd just learned.

Dean was pale. Sweating. He looked sick.

"Dean?" Adam asked, immediately forgetting the demon and everything else.

Dean was rubbing his head, pulling at his hair and gnashing his teeth.

"Dean are you ok?" Adam asked, shifting on the couch to get a better look at his brother.

Dean was mumbling, seeming not to hear Adam's question.

"What?" Adam asked, furrowing his brow in concentration, trying to understand what his brother was saying.

Beads of sweat were popping out on his brother's hairline, "Dean?"

"No, no. I can't…" Dean said quietly, opening his eyes and staring straight ahead then squeezing them closed again.

"What the fuck?" Adam muttered, watching his brother and feeling panic rise in his chest.

"Dean. Look at me," he ordered, invoking his best John Winchester tone. He stood up and got in front of his brother, hoping he could shake him loose from whatever was happening.

"Dean! What is it?" Adam yelled, kneeling down putting his hands on his brother's forearms, "What's going on?"

Shit. Where the hell is Dad? Adam thought absently.

"Adam!" Dean screamed, making Adam flinch with the volume, but still seeming not to see his brother.

"Dean?" Adam asked again, bewildered, "I'm right here man!

Adam shook his brother. Dean was staring straight at him. His pupils were pinpricks of ink in his bright green eyes.

"Adam!" Dean shouted again, screaming as if Adam was across a great chasm not sitting three inches from his face.

"Fuck Dean! What's going on?" Adam cried, his panic making his voice crack.

"SAM!" Dean bellowed. He jumped up, pushing Adam away so hard that he fell backward onto the floor.

"Dean!" Adam yelled, scrambling to grab his brother's arm and Dean pushed him again and started to stalk the room, growling and mumbling words Adam couldn't make out.

"Dean! I'm right here!" Adam said, standing up and trying to get his brother's attention, "Sam is at school!"

Adam stepped in front of Dean's pacing, "Dean. Snap out of it man!"

Dean ignored him, shoving past Adam as if he wasn't there at all.

The rumble of gravel against steel caught Adam's attention and he ran for the cabin door, throwing it open and dashing toward Dad's truck as it pulled in next to the Impala.

"Dad!" Adam screamed, his heart beating out of his chest, "It's Dean! Something's wrong!"

John threw the truck into park and jumped from the cab, "What is it?" he yelled, already sprinting toward the cabin.

Adam followed behind him, "I don't know!"

Adam watched as Dad rushed up to Dean, stepping in his path and trying to stop his pacing.

Dean fought him. Pushed him away. Growled.

"Dean!" Dad yelled, grabbing at Dean again.

In one move Dean shook off Dad's grasp and spun with a haymaker punch. It would have knocked Dad's teeth out had he not ducked at the last second.

"I'll find them you son of bitch!" Dean screamed, stalking away and continuing to pace the room, scanning, muttering as he did so.

Adam stared at his father in shock.

Dad was frozen for a moment too.

"What did you do?" he yelled suddenly, eyes fixed intently on Adam.

"What? Me? Nothing!" Adam shrieked, adrenaline pumping.

"No!" John yelled again "I mean today! What did you do today?"

"Um..."Adam stuttered, his stupid panicky stage fright under Dad's glare coming back, "I…uh..."

"Fuck Adam! Come on!" Dad screamed, making Adam flinch and want to throw up.

"We just went to the archives like you said! It wasn't even the public library… there wasn't anyone there!"

"What else?" John pushed, focused back on Dean's pacing.

"We got gas… umm… but Dean didn't go in... just paid at the pump…um we got groceries…."

Dean abruptly stopped and picked up one of the wooden chairs from the small table, throwing it across the room toward John.

Adam winced as Dad ducked.

Dad walked over to Adam, crowding him, "Tell me what happened at the grocery store,"

Adam couldn't tear his eyes away from his brother. Dean was pacing like a caged animal. He was sweating and furiously clenching and unclenching his fists in rage.

"Umm…" he stuttered again.

"Hey!" Dad said grabbing Adam's upper arm roughly, "Pay attention!"

"Ok, ok…" Adam replied shakily, "Dean flirted with the checkout girl. She was nice. Pretty. She gave him her number. But that was it!"

"Did she touch him?" Dad asked still intently staring down at him.

Adam had to stop and think. Did they touch? Dean admired her bracelet Adam remembered that. That was the in he used to talk to her.

"Umm… Yeah maybe?" he replied, still racking his brain. He hadn't been paying that close of attention to his brother, more focused on the pretty girl and her chest, "I mean maybe when she took the money."

Dad let go of his arm and grimaced. He turned to watch Dean, rubbing his hand roughly across his chin.

"Dad?" Adam asked tentatively from behind, watching Dean pace as well, "Is Dean hallucinating? Is he infected?"

"Yes."

-/-/-/-

Rage bubbled hot in his chest.

Fear twisted in his stomach.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins.

He was gonna find them. He was gonna murder those SOBs. Whoever it was. Whatever it was.

They had the nerve to take his brothers and try to use them as bait? They wouldn't even see him coming. He'd find them. He'd hunt them. They wouldn't stand a chance.

It was dark in the forest where he walked. Not midnight black, but only dull weak moonlight made it through the trees to the path that he walked. He didn't know where he was, but that didn't matter. He was tracking. That's all he needed.

He hadn't seen Sam and Adam get snagged. He wasn't there when it happened. The fact tore at him, cut him with deeply with the sharp knife of guilt. He couldn't remember how he knew they'd been taken. He knew that they were in danger though. They hadn't just wandered off together in search of something to do. He knew. And he was gonna find them.

A soft and distant sound caught his attention. He froze. He stayed stone still, not letting himself breathe so it didn't miss it if it came again.

"Dean!"

The voice was far away but unmistakably his brother. He took off at a sprint.

-/-/-

Suddenly Dean was charging them.

Adam couldn't move out of the way fast enough and Dean collided with him at full speed, knocking his breath out and sending him flying into the coffee table, which collapsed sending splinters of wood shooting across the floor.

"Dean!" Dad yelled, grabbing his brother with all his strength, struggling to keep him from escaping the cabin.

Adam was still trying to get his lungs to take in air, but he realized like Dad did that they couldn't let Dean leave the cabin. He was too good. He'd be lost from them in minutes. They couldn't lose him when he was like this.

"Adam!" Dad yelled, still fighting Dean, "Help me!"

Adam pulled himself up from the crushed table, noting distantly that he couldn't make his right arm wouldn't work.

For a second he was frozen. Watching.

He'd watched Dean fight before. Watched him in the heat of battle. It was scary.

Just like this.

Dean was out of his mind. He was punching, spinning, twisting, clawing, anything to get out of Dad's hold.

And Dad was struggling.

For every move Dad made to grasp Dean, his brother slid out. For every punch he ducked, there was another headed his way.

"ROPE!" John shouted, taking an uppercut to the ribs with a grunt, bringing his own arm down and around to trap Dean's.

Adam scurried to their bags, ignoring the radiating pain in his shoulder and dug around to pull out the black nylon rope they kept there.

He turned around to see Dad and Dean still fighting. Dad caught his eye, noticing the rope and suddenly spun under Dean, picking him up over his back and twisting again so that when he dropped his brother Dad was over him, a knee in his back, and one arm twisted back in an unforgiving grip.

"Now!" Dad yelled and Adam ran over, using his good hand to wind the rope around Dean's wrist while trying to avoid his brother as he struggled and thrashed on the floor.

Dad made quick work of tying Dean's wrists behind his back, then sitting Dean up and winding rope between his wrists and ankles so that although he could sit, he wouldn't have enough length to stand.

The sight made Adam queasy.

"Dad?" he asked softly, as he watched his father pull Dean up to sit him back against the wall of the cabin.

Both men were out of breath and Dean was still fighting the ropes, looking more outraged than ever.

Dad didn't respond, only sat back on his heels staring at Dean with a look Adam couldn't quite understand.

"What do we do?" Adam asked quietly, feeling like a scared little kid.

Dean could die. All the other victims lost their minds and died from this. Adam knew hunting was dangerous. He knew it. He knew death was a possibility on each hunt. Dad told them all the time.

But before now…he didn't know.

Not like this. Not seeing it like this. Not seeing it happen to his brother.

"Dad?" Adam asked again softly, wishing his father would just say something. Tell him the plan. How to fix this.

Dad put his head in his hands.

Was he crying?

"Dad... I think my shoulder is dislocated." Adam said, uncertainly.

The statement was enough to pull his father out of whatever misery spiral he was headed down and he looked up at Adam.

"Which?" he said, studying Adam for the first time as Dean snarled and cursed in the background.

"Right," Adam said frowning, the pain feeling fresh again.

Dad stood up and came behind him, gently feeling Adam's arm and shoulder joint.

"Yeah." He said shortly, confirming what Adam suspected.

"Ugh," Adam groaned. He'd never had a dislocated shoulder before. He didn't know if it was something that he should go to the hospital for, but that didn't matter right now. He already knew Dad was gonna offer him up whatever would count as 'field medicine' so they could focus on Dean.

"I gotta pop it back in ok?" Dad said, gently taking hold of his shoulder.

Adam nodded, gritting his teeth and wishing he could cry.

"Ready?"

Adam nodded in acknowledgment.

"On three."

Adam nodded again, preparing himself for the pain.

"Here we go," Dad said, getting a firm hold on his shoulder and his arm.

"One..."

With a suddenness Adam didn't expect Dad pushed hard shoulder and pulled on his arm, making a loud pop as the bone slipped back into joint.

"Ahh!" Adam screamed, the pain ricocheting through him.

-/-/-

Dean heard the scream.

It was Adam.

Pure pain.

Fuck! He thought fighting against the ropes that were biting into his skin.

The thing had come out of nowhere. It tackled him. It knew his every move before he made it. He fought like hell. He used every move he could. But it countered everything.

"Fuck!" He growled, twisting the ropes against his wrists. He'd get out of here. If he had to chew his way out he'd do it. He couldn't stand knowing something was hurting his brother. He had to get to them.

-/-/-/

Adam sat down weakly on the couch, the sharp pain in his shoulder dulling to a slow aching throb.

"It was the checkout girl." Dad said, his gaze going between Adam and Dean, "She's phobophagus."

"A what?" Adam said in confusion.

"A phobophagus. A fear eater." Dad continued, reaching into the wreckage of the coffee table to pull out his journal.

Adam's mind suddenly flashed a single word. Demon.

"I found it in the lore today. Ancient. Nasty bastards. They feed off the fear they create. Infect their victims and then trail them, draining them,"

"It was so fast…" Adam murmured slowly thinking back to their exchange with the checkout girl.

"One touch is all they need. Shapeshifters too," Dad said gritting his teeth, "Hard to see them coming,"

"How long? How long does he have?" Adam asked, looking over at his brother, pale and sweaty against the wall.

"About 48 hours I think," Dad replied, watching Dean as well.

They were silent a moment, watching Dean struggle and curse.

"Let's go kill her," Adam said, his own anger rising, "I know who she is. I can kill her. What do we need?"

"Brass Bullets, coated in dove's blood," John answered.

"We've got brass bullets in the trunk," Adam replied, standing up, "Dove's blood can't be that hard to find."

"Stop Adam," Dad said, the tone in his voice making Adam go still.

"You can't go."

"What?" Adam screeched, appalled.

"You need to stay here and look after your brother," Dad said taking a short breath, "I'll handle this."

"Look after him?" Adam shouted, "He's tied to the freaking wall Dad! You don't know who this girl is! I do! I'm not riding the pine on this one!"

"Stand down boy," John replied harshly, meeting Adam's own anger, "This is not a discussion."

"And what happens if you get infected? Huh?" Adam asked, snarling, "No backup? No one else knows what's going on? No way. You need me out there!"

"Enough!" Dad roared.

"You're staying here." He said decisively.

Adam glared at him.

"Don't make me tie you up too," he threatened.

Adam's glared but his knees went wobbly at the threat.

He wouldn't. Adam thought, not to looking away from his father's eyes, trying to judge his sincerity.

"We're not leaving him alone like this," Dad said resolutely, looking at Dean. "Your brother needs you."

One simple phrase and Adam's anger collapsed.

He needs me.

"Fine." He said defeated, "She was tall, blonde…pretty. Her name was Melody. I don't know if she still looks like that, but she had an old wooden beaded bracelet on. Dark with charms carved into the beads. She said it was an old family thing."

Dad nodded, committing the details to memory.

"Take care of your brother," he said seriously.

"I will," Adam said determinedly.

-/-/-/-