Disclaimer: Supernatural and all its characters belong to The CW and Eric Kripke.
Suggested Songs:
"Stranger in My Home Town" by Foghat
"Scarlet Begonias" by The Grateful Dead
Chapter One: Part Two
"Dean! Where the hell are you?! Did you kill the Wendigo?!" Sam shouted into Dean's ear, picking up after only two rings.
"Relax, Sammy. The Wendigo is dead. We're on our way to the hospital."
"Who's we? Did you find Tommy? Why did you leave Ben and I in the woods?!"
Dean winced as Sam's grating voice came loudly through his other other cellphone. He sounded pissed. Dean rolled his eyes slightly and sighed into the phone.
"Sam, one thing at a time, dammit," he snapped. "Yes, we found Tommy. He's gonna pull through. Haley's gonna be fine too. We'll meet you back at the trail in like…"
He looked over at Melissa expectantly, and she could feel his gaze on her. "Half an hour?" she said, not taking her eyes off the road.
"...thirty minutes. Just get back to Baby and wait there."
"What? Did the Wendigo give you brain damage? You're in the car right now," Sam said. Dean could practically see his little brother rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, about that. I'm not in my car. Not even driving, actually. I would have killed that Wendigo…" he stopped for a moment when Melissa snorted beside him at the statement. He gave her a glare, and she continued to watch the road innocently. The relatively successful hunt had put her in a playful mood.
"...But Melissa, this other hunter, did it for me?"
"Wait what? There was another hunter in this town?"
"Well, I guess so. I'm in her car right now. I was sort of tied up underground and by the time I woke up the Wendigo was dying and she was holding the flare gun."
"Um, okay," Sam said, a little wary of working with unfamiliar hunters. "I guess we'll debrief when you get back?"
"Yeah, and we gotta take Ben to the hospital. I think we'll probably have to leave Haley there with Tommy," he told Sam, glancing behind him. Haley was sitting with her arm around Tommy's shoulders, his head leaning against her. His face was filthy with blood and dirt, his leg and surely a few of his ribs were broken. He was starved and dehydrated as hell, but he was alive. Dean cracked a small smile seeing Haley look relieved as she was leaning her head back on seat, eyes closed.
"Alright, see you in a few."
"Bye Sammy."
He hung up the phone just as they pulled into the drop-off lane for ambulances outside the emergency room.
"Alright, are you two gonna be okay?" Melissa asked Haley and Tommy as they made moves to leave the car.
"Yeah I think so…" Haley said with a small, exhausted smile, helping Tommy out of the car. "Thank you, again."
Melissa only nodded humbly. She felt warm looking at Tommy and Haley, two lives that had been saved. She smiled a little as Dean said goodbye to the two, reminding them that he would be back with Ben later. They both watched silently as the two dirty survivors walked back to safety, out of the hands of hunters and the supernatural. It made Melissa feel strangely melancholy and nostalgic? She didn't know. She felt it almost every time she saved anyone, or watched them walk away. Once they got through the automatic doors into a blindingly white, ammonia soaked building, Melissa and Dean both looked back ahead. Dean cleared his throat a little awkwardly, making Melissa smirk as she pulled away.
"Um...thanks...for you know...saving my ass back there."
"No problem," Melissa replied. "You would have killed it, I'm sure."
Dean's eyes widened in slight embarrassment as she echoed his words back to him. "No, I didn't mean-"
"Don't worry," she interrupted, grinning. "I'm just kidding."
He smirked a little and relaxed against the leather seat, listening as the car roared quietly down the scenic Colorado road. They were around ten minutes from the trail. He looked over gratefully at Melissa Lowry, as she had introduced herself. He'd had no idea there was another hunter on this job. Usually they heard about it when interviewing town officials and whatnot if someone had gotten there first.
"Well, thanks anyway."
"It's alright," she said with a smile. "Do you want some music?"
"Yeah, sure," Dean answered, watching out the window as she pulled down a dirt road. Tall fir trees on either side of them blocked out most of the light from the setting sun. The sky was a deep orangey pink and free of all clouds.
"Well, I got some tapes in the glovebox, if you wanna pick one," Melissa offered in her slight southern drawl. "And another box full under your seat."
"You're letting your passenger pick the music?" Dean asked with raised eyebrows. For him it was unheard of.
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't usually. But other hunters get a pass."
"Well thanks, I'll remember that if you ever ride in my car," Dean said as he opened up the glovebox, expecting mediocre music at best. Not many people these days knew real music.
The glovebox was completely full, and there was no organization whatsoever. This didn't really surprise Dean, though, that car was kind of a mess anyway. But, he had admired the old model upon seeing it after they escaped from the woods. He would have complimented her, had they not been in the process of rushing Tommy and his sister to the hospital. Though the car could have used a new paint job.
Dean was beyond excited when he saw Melissa's vast selection of music. Among the favorites he discovered were The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Blue Öyster Cult. There were however, some less favorable picks in his opinion. The soft rock and blues totally outnumbered the hard rock, including pretty much every Beatles album and A LOT of Pink Floyd. But, for now, he could overlook that.
"You listen to good music and your car is killer and you can hunt Wendigos?" Dean said, astounded. He looked over at her with an impressed smirk. "You're awesome."
"Thanks," she said softly with a small chuckle. She really was proud of her tape collection. She didn't usually meet someone with similar music taste.
Dean reached under the seat and pulled out a worn shoebox when he had seen all there was to see in the glovebox. "Enjoy the miracle…" was written on top in bold cursive letters. He furrowed his brows and Melissa smiled wider, watching him from the corner of her eye. Dean opened the box to discover that these tapes were organized very neatly, each with a detailed label. He spotted one with the title: 7/9/95 Soldier Field-Jerry's Last Show! His face fell as he understood its meaning.
"Oh no," he murmured. "Just when you were starting to get cool." He turned to her with a teasing grin.
"You got something to say about my music?" she asked playfully.
"Are these what I think they are?"
"If you think they're Dead tapes, then yes, you'd be correct."
"You're a Deadhead?" he asked in slight disgust. They only had a couple miles until they reached the trail, at the head of which Dean had told Melissa his car and his brother would be waiting.
"Born and raised," Melissa confirmed proudly.
Dean glanced ahead momentarily, disappointed by his unsavory discovery of the shoebox. He spotted several items hanging from the rearview mirror. Among them were a rosary cross, a dreamcatcher, and a necklace with a peace sign charm. I shoulda known she was a hippie the minute I got in here, he thought to himself. He was only thankful the car didn't reek of patchouli.
There was a beat of charged, pensive silence.
"Are you insulting the Grateful Dead?" Melissa asked in mock horror.
"Not really," Dean said hastily. "I just can't believe you listen to a bunch of acid-pumped hippies." He smirked to himself after that, waiting for her, no doubt angry, response.
"Oh, you did not just say that," she challenged, only a little offended. "Okay, then," she snapped. "What do you listen to, asshat?"
Dean scoffed in amusement at the name, and continued the banter. "For your information, I listen to the world's greatest band, Led Zeppelin. And Deep Purple, and The Rolling Stones, and all the people who play true rock n' roll."
"Okay, Dean, I love Zep as much as the next girl," Melissa started, ready to begin a real debate. Nobody messed with the Dead while riding in her car. Nobody. "But you know that pretty much all they did was rip off blues guitarists from the twenties, right?"
"You know all the Dead did was trip balls while they spouted hippie mumbo jumbo, right?" he retorted, loving every minute of the argument. He saw Melissa's face flush in frustration and he chuckled giddily, realizing dimly that he still hadn't even chosen a tape. He looked ahead to see Sam leaning against the hood of the Impala, talking with Ben. Dean felt a little disappointed as Melissa brought the rickety truck to a stop, the emergency brake screaming in protest as she pulled it. Damn thing needs oil, Dean thought at the unkempt state of the vehicle. It almost physically hurt him to sit in an old junker like that.
"Alright," Melissa sighed as she took the keys out of the ignition. "We're gonna need to continue this later."
"Oh, you're so on," Dean smirked. Melissa smiled in response and they both went to greet Sam and Ben. Well, mostly Sam. Ben stood shyly off to the side, ready to get the hell out of the woods that had almost killed his brother.
"Melissa Lowry," she stuck her hand out to the tall man after both brothers had nodded greetings to each other. Melissa was startled by Sam's height, being only around five and a half feet tall herself. Next to Dean, she felt short, but standing across from Sam right now had her experiencing flashbacks to the scene in Spinal Tap where dwarves and stonehenge are discussed at length.
"Our resident hippie," Dean murmured next to her. She smacked him in the ribs with her free hand, feeling surprisingly comfortable with him. It made her feel odd and out of place. She was in no way a shy person, but she wasn't exactly outgoing either. To be fair, though, she'd never met a hunter who was. Come to think of it, she'd almost never come across a hunter with real friends of any kind.
Sam looked slightly confused by Dean and Melissa's little interaction, but smiled warmly at her as he returned the handshake. "Sam Winchester."
"Nice to meet you," she said politely as they broke apart. Then, a realization hit her. "Oh my god...you're John's boys, aren't you?"
Author's Note: Alright, first chapter down, about a thousand more to go. Just kidding. But, I am planning for this to go through at least eight of the seasons. So, we'll see how that goes. Also, I know this was still pretty light on the action and revelations and stuff, but we'll get there. For me, reading and writing beginnings are always like pulling teeth, but soon we'll be in the thick of it. Patience, my wayward sons.
Anyway, PLEASE review to let me know what you thought. Thank you so much for reading! Please expect another chapter in the next few days.
Have a great day!
Peace and love.