Chapter 2: Wendigo

It had been a week since the Jessica incident and things were relative uneasy. Sam was becoming more and more withdrawn. Prone to snap or space out at random times. Not that Riley blamed him. Jessica's death had been cruel and horrible and having witnessed it... It was a wonder how Sam was even functioning.

As if to remind her of her own inner turmoil, a dull throb of pain began in her temple. It had happened when the car had exploded, her head had smacked the pavement hard enough to make her see stars, and leaving behind darkened bruises and scratches. Now it hurt every now and then, pulsating through her skull.

Riley gazed out the window, brow furrowed as she watched the trees pass by. The look didn't go unnoticed. Dean had been watching her and Sam closely the last few days.

"Hey."

She turned to see Dean looking at her in the rearview mirror. "What?"

"You all right?"

She shrugged. "I was just thinking...This whole situation is weird. That's the thing that John's been after all these years and it just shows up out of the blue..."

He frowned too. "I know." His hands tightened on the wheel briefly. "How are you doing? Your head is hurting you again." That last bit wasn't a question. He knew her tells almost as well as Sam, even if they hadn't been on hunts together in years.

"You mean almost being blown up?" She retorted and then sighed. " My head still bothers me, but it's not that bad. If I had been closer...Nothing was wrong with that car, Dean. It wasn't in prime condition. But still...It just went off like someone put a bomb in it."

Dean glanced back at her, trying not to show how worried he was. "I'm sure when we find Dad, he'll have answers."

"I hope so. I left him a voicemail about Sam." She murmured. "No answer of course, but I wanted him to know about this thing."

"Did you talk to Bobby?"

She sighed. "Yeah, he wasn't happy of course, but once I told him I was working with you two he cheered up awful fast."

Dean snickered.

"And he wants you to call him sometime." She rolled her eyes. "He wants an update on me I'm sure." She looked back out the window before looking at Sam when he jerked awake.

"Are you okay, Sam?" She asked him and he nodded at her.

"Yeah."

She decided not to mention his shaky tone. Nightmares were a touchy subject for her as well. No one needed to know what she had been seeing lately. The same thing on an endless loop. Mangled corpses and blood staining the walls and floor. Her own screams echoing throughout the motel room. The dark symbol on the wall, painted with drying blood...

"Another nightmare?" Dean inquired and Sam nodded.

"You wanna drive for a while?" He asked casually and Sam whipped his head around to look at his brother in disbelief.

"Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." He scoffed.

"Just thought you might want to. Never mind." He stated, looking back at the road. "How about you, Blondie?"

"No, thanks. If I even so much as touch the wheel, you'll freak out." Riley tapped the back of his seat and said in a deep announcer's voice: "Go for it, Sam. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity." Sam laughed at her and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Look. You're both worried about me. I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay."

Riley shrugged. "Okay then."

"Mmhm." Dean hummed and Sam sighed before reaching forward and taking a hold of the map on the dashboard.

"All right, where are we?" He asked, looking for the location on the map.

"We are... just outside of Grand Junction." Dean tapped the wheel with his fingers.

Riley moved forward again. "Want some chocolate?" She asked, waving a bar at the brothers. Sam shook his head.

"No, thanks."

"You raid the whole store?" Dean smirked and she snorted.

"I happen to like chocolate."

"So do I." He said with a wicked grin and quick as a flash he had her wrist and bit off some of her chocolate bar.

She stared at him a moment in shock before scowling. "Ugh! You jerk! Eat your own!" He started snickering and she glared at him. Sam shook his head at them and pulled the map back across his lap. He couldn't help but feel comfortable by their familiar bickering.

Riley wiped her hand off on a napkin. "You are disgusting."

"You offered." He smirked, licking the chocolate off his lips.

She scrunched up her nose and opened her mouth to respond.

"You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon." Sam sighed quietly and regained their attention.

"Sam, we dug around there for a week." Dean countered softly with a small sigh of his own. "We came up with nothing. If we want to find the thing that killed Jessica-And the thing that tried to blow up, Riley-"

"We gotta find Dad first." Sam finished with a frown and looking unconvinced and Dean knew it.

"Dad disappearing, and this thing showing up again after 20 years? It's no coincidence." He said.

"John will have answers." Riley said aloud from the back seat. "He always does."

"See? Confidence." Dean grinned at Sam who shook his head.

"It's just weird," He said after a minute. "These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge."

"What about it?"

"There's nothing there. It's just woods. Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"

Riley looked back out the window. "Knowing, John...There's a reason."

Sam nodded and folded the map back up. "Just wish he'd tell us."

Riley nodded in agreement, but she didn't say anything else. John was up to something, but what? A whole new hunting exercise? It was a little extreme, but not entirely unusual for John Winchester.

At the local Ranger Station, Riley and Sam stood in front of a 3D map of the national park. Reaching out with one hand, Sam pointed to a section of the map labeled Blackwater Ridge.

"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote. It's cut off by these canyons here," Sam moved his hand to indicate the areas he was talking about, "Rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." He rested his hands against the side of the table holding the map, and let out a long, deep breath.

Dean was behind them looking at the miscellaneous tourist attractions in the ranger station. He was standing in front of an old photograph on the wall.

"Dude, check out the size of this friggin' bear!" He called out and Riley rolled her eyes.

"Way to pay attention, sport."

"No, seriously come look at this." He stated and with a sigh Riley and Sam went over to him.

"And a dozen or so grizzlies in the area." Sam murmured to finish his observation from earlier. "It's no nature walk, that's for sure."

"Great." Riley muttered.

Dean snickered and wrapped an arm around Riley playfully and she eyed him.

"What's the matter? Too dainty for a forest?"

"No," She rolled her eyes. "I don't mind the hiking…just the wildlife."

"You lot aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" A voice sounded behind them and Riley jumped.

"Crap."

Dean snickered at her under his breath and she kicked his leg.

Sam rolled his eyes at them before facing the man who had spoken. The man in front of them was one of the older local rangers.

"Oh, no, sir," He said quickly. "We're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper."

"Recycle, man." Dean pumped a fist in the air and Riley elbowed him and gave the ranger a wide smile. Sam shook his head.

"Bull," The ranger said with a smirk, causing the three across from him to look uncomfortable. "You're friends with that Hailey girl, right?" He said, before anyone could come up with something to say.

"Yes." Dean stepped in, lying quickly. "Yes we are, Ranger…" He leaned forward to peer at the man's nametag. "Wilkinson." The ranger nodded and then looked at the three of them with a bit of warning in his eyes.

"Well I'll tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the 24th, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" He took a sip from his coffee mug and waited for the protesting which was sure to come, but it never came. Riley shook her head. "You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine."

Dean nodded this time. "We will. Well, that Hailey girl's quite a pistol, huh?" He added as the ranger walked away.

"That is putting it mildly," The man agreed and Dean smiled.

"Actually, you know what would help is if we could show her a copy of that permit. You know, so she could see her brothers return date for herself." The ranger nodded and then went to the back room to make a copy.

"Jumpy much?" He teased the blonde behind him.

"Oh, shut up." She scowled.

"That's okay, you can jump me anytime." He winked at her and Riley rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams." She huffed and smacked his arm.

"Every night, sugarpie." He smirked and she glared at him, cheeks reddening when he turned his back on her. Sam snorted at the pair of them before seeing Riley's flushed cheeks and he raised an eyebrow curiously. The ranger came back in and handed the paper to them.

"I hope you talk some sense into that girl." He told them and Riley smiled at him.

"We'll try, sir."

"Oh, yeah." Dean laughed as he folded the paper on the way out of the ranger station. Sam, slightly annoyed, moved forward.

"What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" He all but accused and Dean looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge. So what are we waiting for? Let's go find Dad." He stated quickly, his voice full of agitation.

Riley watched the pair of them, not daring to voice her own opinion. She agreed with Sam as to heading straight to the woods, but on the other hand...She had a gut feeling that they had a case. Something John had to have been working on. Maybe they needed to speak to this Hailey girl.

"I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Sam continued. Dean walked around to the driver's side of the car and looked back at Sam over the top. Riley waited behind Sam.

"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it." Dean said with a 'duh' like attitude and stared at Sam like he was someone else. Sam stared back.

"What?" He said finally in irritation.

"Well, since when are you all "shoot first, ask questions later" anyway?" The eldest Winchester brother asked, curiously.

"Since now." Sam grunted and opened the back door. "You can ride in the front this time." He told Riley who just nodded.

"Oh, really?" Dean asked in amusement and looked at Riley. She was looking a little sympathetically at Sam and there was something in her gaze that confused him as well as intrigued him. She caught him looking and shrugged at him.

Dean knocked on the door to the address on the permit. The door was opened by a girl that looked around Riley's age with dark shoulder length curls, tanned skin and had the attitude of a girl who doesn't take anything from anyone. Riley wasn't sure she'd like this girl who was peering at them from behind the screen door that was still shut.

Dean was sure he liked her.

"You must be Hailey Collins." He said stepping forward with Riley and Sam standing behind him. "I'm Dean, this is Sam and Riley." He gestured to each as he mentioned their name. "We're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy."

"Let me see some ID." Hailey said without hesitation. Dean showed her his fake ID and the girl looked at it intently. Smart girl, Riley thought. After a few seconds, she opened the screen door. "Come on in." She pushed on the door to let them by.

"Thank you." Riley stated and Hailey nodded before she spotted the Impala.

"That yours?" She asked with interest.

"Yeah." Dean answered smugly. He was proud of his car. Sam looked at Riley who rolled her eyes.

"Nice car." Hailey said walked inside, leaving them to follow. Dean mouthed something to Sam and walked inside. Riley frowned but followed the brothers into the house.

There was a teen with short buzz cut hair at the dinner table, messing with his utensils and he glanced at Riley while she looked at the house with interest.

"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" She asked as Hailey came into the kitchen with a bowl.

"He checks in every day by cell." Hailey replied and set the bowl down on the table. "He emails photos, stupid little videos. But we haven't heard anything in over three days now."

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception." Sam suggested sounding impatient.

"He's got a satellite phone too." Hailey responded before heading back into the kitchen.

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asked.

"He wouldn't do that," The teenager at the table all but snapped at Dean. He eyed the young boy who looked away with a frown. Hailey came back in from the kitchen carrying another bowl of food before anyone could say a word.

"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."

"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asked.

Hailey nodded. "Yeah." She opened her laptop and clicked on a folder, turning the computer around for them to view.

"That's Tommy," Hailey, pointing to a photo of a smiling, good looking guy sitting in a tent.

"What about the last video?" Riley asked. She nodded and clicked through the pictures to the video in question.

"Hey Hailey, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge." Tommy's voice came through, he was relaxed and calm ad looked as if he was settling in for the night. "We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow."

Riley watched Sam's face and recognized the look in his eyes. He had found something interesting. He locked eyes with her and she nodded subtly.

"Well, we'll find your brother." Dean told the girl. "We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing."

"Then maybe I'll see you there." She countered airily, walking past to stand behind her younger brother with a determined look. The boys exchanged looks. That didn't sound good to either of them. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

"I think I know how you feel." Dean said thoughtfully and Riley glanced at him, hiding a smile. Of course he did. Dean had always looked out for Sam and always would. If Sam was in trouble, his brother would be there in no time flat. That's how it always had been.

"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked suddenly, pointing to the videos.

"Sure," Hailey said with a shrug, though she looked confused.

Riley sipped her beer, trying to ignore the leers of the men on the opposite side of the room as she walked over to Dean. They were at one of the small tables, and Sam was digging through his shoulder bag.

"Don't let anyone card ya youngin'." Dean teased and she kicked his chair with a smirk.

"Shuddup. I've got a card." She flashed it to him and he smirked.

"Bobby know about that?"

"Who do you think made it?"

He snorted into a laugh and she smirked at him.

"So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic." Sam interjected, pulling his chair up to the table and showing them his laptop. "Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." He opened his that all the data he had collected and started flipping through some newspaper articles.

Riley smiled. Sam was the best at researching. It was usually thanks to him that they weren't killed on hunts. Although once or twice John had ignored the information and there were bad results. Nearly fatal results. John hadn't argued with him much after that. At least not on hunts.

"Any before that?" Dean asked, taking a sip of his beer and eyeing the nachos that Riley was munching on. She smiled at him and held out the basket for him to grab and he took it happily. That was the thing about Riley; Dean could always guarantee some food from her. She never seemed to finish anything, but that was her own rule. Never be too full when on a hunt.

"Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack. And again in 1959, and again before that in 1936."

Sam clicked through pages on the laptop. "Every 23 years, just like clockwork." He typed something and then frowned. "Okay, watch this. Here's the clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." He pressed a button and leaned back to show them the video that Hailey had sent him. Doing a frame by frame, he slowed the video down by seconds.

"Do that again." Dean said, focusing on the video, while Riley frowned. Sam repeated the frames and she gasped when she saw the shadow move.

"How many frames?" She wondered aloud.

"That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second." Sam murmured and glanced at his two companions. "Whatever that thing is, it can move." Dean punched him on the arm.

"I told you something was going on!" He chuckled. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Yeah." He muttered and put his laptop away. "I got one more thing."

"What is it?" Riley asked curiously, leaning forward slightly across Dean who looked at her once before looking back at Sam.

He placed newspaper article on the table. "In '59 one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive." Sam's eyes were now sparkling with excitement of a mystery. Dean looked at the article before looking up. Riley was biting her lip.

"Is there a name?" He asked and Sam was about to answer when someone came to their table.

"Here, sugar." Riley looked up as a waitress replaced her beer with another. Riley frowned.

"I didn't pay for another one."

"It's already paid for. Courtesy of that guy." She smiled and nodded towards the bar. A guy with short blond hair nodded to her and Riley raised the glass to him with a halfhearted smile. Dean frowned, trying to see the guy at the bar, but his gaze was blocked by people playing pool.

Riley finished off the drink and Sam tilted his head.

"You okay?"

She seemed nervous all the sudden.

"Yeah...It's just weird. John knew there was a case here and once again it's like we're behind a few steps. Is he playing a game and we have to catch up or what?"

Sam frowned at her obvious dodge of the question. "I don't know. I don't get it either." He glanced at his watch and looked at Dean. "Hey, let's go."

"Huh? Oh...Sure." Dean stated and though he wasn't sure who was at the bar giving Riley drinks, he made sure to walk close to her as they made their way out of the bar. He didn't know why but he just didn't like that.

"Personal space, Winchester." Riley told him and elbowed him in the ribs on the way out. He rolled his eyes.

Shaw, the sole survivor, led the trio of "rangers" through his one-bedroom apartment. He didn't seem to mind the reasoning they had for coming over this late at night and Riley guessed that the man felt lonely and isolated. Exactly how anyone would feel after surviving something so horrible.

"Look, ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this." He began. "It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a-"

"Grizzly?" Sam interrupted. "That's what attacked them?" Shaw took a puff of his cigarette nodding slowly as he turned to face them. They could tell that he didn't actually believe that.

"The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" Dean asked, wanting him to tell him what they were waiting to hear. That it wasn't a bear attack. Shaw looked down, refusing to say anything.

"What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Dean pressed again, stepping closer and Riley followed him.

"If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it." She said quietly. "Please, sir, if you know anything tell us…it could save lives." Shaw looked up at the sound of her voice and regarded her.

"I seriously doubt that, little lady." He chuckled humorlessly, slowing settling down in his chair. "Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make. You wouldn't believe me." He reached for a glass on the table in front of him. "Nobody ever did," He sighed.

Sam moved to sit in the chair across from Mr. Shaw and looked at him.

"Mr. Shaw," Sam coaxed. "What did you see?"

"Nothing." He said finally, the fear showing clearly in his eyes and Sam nodded for him to continue. "It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though." He frowned, recalling the sound. "Like a roar. Like... no man or animal I ever heard." Dean felt Riley shift uneasily beside him.

"It came at night?" Sam asked, thinking back to the video. Shaw nodded. "Got inside your tent?"

"It got inside our cabin." Shaw corrected, glancing up at Dean and Riley. "I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that?" He asked. The trio exchanged worried looks. "I didn't even wake up until I heard my parents screaming."

"It killed them?" The brothers heard Riley whisper. Shaw looked at her.

"Dragged them off into the night." He clarified. Dean glanced at the floor thinking hard and Riley began to worry her bottom lip in thought. A few things it could be, the description didn't exactly narrow it down to one particular monster. "Why it left me alive...been asking myself that ever since." Shaw finished with sadness. "It did leave me this, though." He pulled back the collar of his shirt to reveal four thick, massive long scars across his left shoulder and collar bone. Claw marks. Sam and Dean tensed at the sight. He tried to think of what had caused such a mark.

Shaw gave them a haunted look. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of demon." The word demon made Riley flinch and Dean felt her bump his arm.

"Um, thank you for your time." She told the man quickly and edged towards the door.

"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors," Dean spoke as they walked through the halls of Shaw's apartment building and back to the car. "If they want inside, they just go through the walls."

"So it's probably something else, something corporeal." Sam said and his brother smirked.

"Corporeal"? Excuse me professor." He chuckled and Riley smirked.

"Shut up." Sam rolled his eyes. "So what do you think?"

"The claws, the speed that it moves... could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature... and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it." He stalked off ahead of them and Sam looked at Riley.

"So…"

"Sorry about that. I've been on a few demon hunts over the years that you guys were gone. Most didn't end well. They are a whole other breed of monster." She took his arm. "You can't tell Dean, Sam. He'll try to send me away if he thinks I can't handle this."

"I know you can do the job." He told her, shaking his head. "I was just worried about you."

She nodded. "I know...Truthfully...I was pretty close to a no hunting life."

Shocked, Sam's jaw dropped. "You? really?"

"Yeah, well...I met a guy...It was great." She smiled at the memory before turning to him. "You almost had that too and I'm so sorry, Sam." She looked over to see Dean rummaging through the trunk of the Impala.

"Trust me. I can still do the job…"

"Was he one of the ones that...died?"

She turned back to Sam, a haunted look in her eyes. "Yes." She said softly. Sam glanced at her now understanding how she knew just the right things to say to him about Jessica. About missing someone so much and the drive to find out who had killed her. She felt the same.

They walked across the road and she stopped at Dean's side.

"Hey." He greeted her and she smiled at him. He frowned at her hardly existent smile. "What?"

"Nothing." She said quickly and ducked her head, looking down into the trunk with him. Dean rolled his eyes. "Need some help?"

"Yeah, sure." He responded, still eyeing her every once and a while. Something had upset her. "Hand me all those in the corner back there." She nodded and reached into the trunk.

"You still know how to shoot right?" He teased after a moment and she looked at him with a 'are you kidding me?' look.

"Duh."

"Sassy pants." He smirked and she stuck her tongue out at him.

He would never tell her, but it was so great to have her and Sam there with him. He couldn't imagine trying to find John on his own. And he had missed them...Having them back was like the old days. At least somethings never changed.

Sam approached them and she ducked back down into the trunk, hoping that he wouldn't mention the conversation they had just had.

"We cannot let that Hailey girl go out there." He said to Dean who didn't stop what he was doing which was tossing some ammo boxes into the bag along with the guns.

"Oh yeah?" He said casually, looking up. "What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?"

"Well, yeah." Sam stated. Dean straightened up and turned to stare at his brother with a, for once, serious look.

"Her brother's missing Sam." He said gravely. "She's not just gonna sit this out. No, we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend."

"Fuzzy predator friend?" Riley asked, trying to ease the tension and Dean smirked at her as he grabbed the duffel bag and gave it a sling over one shoulder before slamming the trunk shut.

"You can name it, when we find it." He told her and she shook her head with a wrinkle of her tiny nose.

"No, thanks." She stated and Dean snickered. Sam tapped his shoulder.

"Finding Dad's not enough?" He asked in frustration. He was getting more and more agitated as they went. All he wanted to do was find his father, but with these distractions… "Now we gotta babysit too?" He finished. Dean just stared at him and after a second, his temper rose again. "What?!"

"Nothing." Dean said tossing the duffel bag at him and making him wince. Why should he say anything? It wasn't as if Sam ever listened.

"Guys, seriously?" Riley looked from one brother to the other and they stared at her. "Sam, I understand what you're saying, but John gave us a job and as much as I don't like when innocents get involved, Dean's right. Hailey will not sit idly by any longer. She wants to find her missing brother. If we're with her, then maybe we can prevent more casualties. And you know she'll show up. We can't stop her."

Sam opened his mouth and then sighed. "Yeah, all right."

Dean sent her a smug smile as his brother got into the car.

"Knew you were on my side."

"Don't let it go to your head." She remarked before climbing into the car. He only snorted in response.

"It's so beautiful out here." Riley smiled as Dean drove them through the park trail. She had the window rolled down and her, what Dean called "Laura Ingalls" braids, whipping in the wind. "Thanks for switching seats with me, Sam." Sam couldn't help but grin at Riley's enthusiasm.

"You're welcome." He told her.

Dean gave her a wicked grin. "You just wanted to sit by me." He told her and she turned her head to look at him.

"Oh yeah that was definitely it." She toned and he almost laughed. She was so cute riled up. Cute? Did I just think that? Dean wondered and tried to clear his head. "I just wanted to get a good look at where we are going."

"Well, there she is…" She spoke up again and Sam leaned forward to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, there was Hailey, her brother Ben, and a man who was pulling stuff out of his truck. Hearing them, Hailey turned to look with a raised eyebrow.

Riley got out of the car first, pulling her tan hiking jacket on over her white long sleeve shirt, it was so bulky that it covered most of her shorts, and taking out a backpack that she had filled with supplies last night. Sam followed her, carrying the duffel bag.

"You guys got room for three more?" Dean asked casually, shutting his door and walking up to them. Riley shifted the bag on her shoulder, watching the girl look at them warily.

"Wait, you want to come with us?" Hailey asked in disbelief. Riley figured she must have thought they were there to stop them.

"Who are these guys?" The man behind Hailey asked, looking the newcomers over. The guy's eyes widened as he took in the blond that walked up with the guys and Riley sucked in a breath when their eyes met. Oh, shit.

"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Hailey replied with a smirk.

"You're rangers?" The guy asked and his eyes were glued to Riley.

"That's right." Dean replied with a bit of attitude.

The group could tell that these two were going to buttheads. Riley and Sam exchanged eye rolls.

The man walked up to Riley while she was re-lacing her boots against a tree. The others were standing around waiting to start the hike.

"I'm Roy." He said causally, and she sighed internally.

"Riley." She offered reluctantly.

"You know, I was surprised to see you last night. I didn't know rangers drank." She looked up to see him eyeing the top of her shirt and she frowned.

"I didn't know hunting guides tried to flirt with girls at a bar." She quipped back and tugged her coat tightly around her body.

"Touché." Roy stated with a grin and his gaze lifted to her face. "Well, I am glad to see you again. By the way, I love the braids." He smirked and she frowned.

"Look, let's get one thing straight right now," She stated, putting her leg down poking the guy in the chest. "I am not here to screw around. I am trying to help you locate Hailey's and Ben's brother so I don't need you getting in my way. Besides," She added. "I am not interested."

"Yeah, well what about after?"

She shrugged. "We'll see." She turned to face Dean and Sam. Hailey was still eyeing the brothers.

"You're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" She remarked, tilting her head.

"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean said to her who only raised an eyebrow and Riley snorted. He merely gave her an amused grin.

"You think this is funny?" Roy said turning to look at him. "It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt." He gave him a look and so did Riley.

"Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be. We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all." He answered coolly, and he turned to walk past, leading them into the forest.

"Yeah, this is so winning me over." Riley stated sarcastically and she walked after Dean who paused and waited for her to catch up.

"Who is he?" He asked her and if she didn't know better she would have said he was jealous. But it was Dean.

"He's the guy that bought me that beer last night." She said as casually as possible.

"The guy in the bar?"

"Yep."

"Wonderful."

"Look, I don't like him, so I'll be alert as always. You don't have to worry. I won't compromise what we're out here to do, I'm focused." She told him and walked ahead of him. Dean paused a second with a frown.

"I'm not worried about that." He muttered under his breath. As he walked, he suddenly wondered why that even bothered him to begin with. Did he really care if she and Roy had a thing? Dean wasn't so sure and when he wasn't sure about something it tended to bug him.

A few hours later, Roy led the way through the trees. Dean followed after him, his eyes both trained on Roy and the woods around them. Riley walked along behind him, looking at the scenery rather than paying attention to what was going on ahead of them. Hailey and Ben were behind him, leaving Sam to bring up the rear.

"Yeah, more than a little," Roy replied and glanced at Riley who looked away from him. Dean frowned and asked another question, hoping to get Roy to stop looking at Riley. Who does he think he's trying to impress? We hunt worse things than bears and rabbits.

"Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?" He asked and Riley glanced at him. Dean winked at her. Yeah, I just went there. She seemed to know what he was thinking for she rolled her eyes at him.

Show off.

"Mostly buck, sometimes bear." Roy answered and Riley saw him look at her.

"Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Dean joked and took a step. Without warning, Roy grabbed him by the back of his jacket and hauled him backwards. Riley frowned.

"Whatcha doing Roy?" He asked quietly. The didn't answer, but grabbed a stick and stabbing it into the ground a few inches from Dean's foot. A steel bear trap sprung up, snapping metal jaws that would have done damage to anyone's ankle, and Riley's eyes flashed up to them, widening.

"You should watch where you're stepping, ranger." Roy said smugly, stepping around the trap and retaking the lead. Riley stepped up for his defense. She didn't like it when people tried to uproot what they were doing. Their phony badges and such were for the people's protection not just their own.

"I guess we are further up than what we sighted on the map." She stated simply and arched an eyebrow at Roy, challenging him to say something else. "There are misplaced traps here and there. We should all watch our step." She flipped her braids over her shoulders and stepped ahead. Roy turned back around. Dean almost grinned as did Sam.

"It was a bear trap." Dean said sheepishly to everyone and Sam rolled his eyes at his brother.

"Yes, that's right." Riley called back over her shoulder and Dean smirked. Good ol' Riley.

"That was great…earlier." Dean murmured when she waited for him to come up the path, letting Roy take the lead again. "Nice cover up."

"Just, remember…this lie probably won't last forever with these people." She told him, seeing how Hailey was eyeing them. "Someone already suspects us." She left him again as Hailey moved up to his side.

"You didn't pack any provisions," Hailey said pointedly to Dean after a few minutes of walking side by side with him. "You guys are carrying a duffel bag. Riley is the only one that looks legit." She grabbed at Dean halting his steps. "You're not rangers, so who the hell are you?" Sam looked from his brother to the angry unhappy girl wondering if he should stay and help explain or not. Dean gave Sam a nod that he was okay and Sam followed after Ben who had not wanted to acknowledge what his sister was doing. Dean faced her and started to explain.

"So…you and he a thing?" Roy asked and Riley shook her head.

"Nope."

"Really? You both seem rather protective of each other."

"We're like family, practically. We've known each other since we were kids." She explained and Roy stopped to help her when her foot tangled in some bushes. Roy's hand accidently slipped from her boot to her calf and then he let go. His eyes met hers and she swallowed nervously.

"Um, thanks." She said awkwardly and Roy nodded.

They continued walking, now an awkward silence between them. Roy came to stop suddenly and turned to face the group.

"This is it. Blackwater Ridge." He stated. Sam and Riley walked past him first with Ben right behind them all three of them, curious. Hailey and Dean brought up the rear and it was clear that Hailey had forgiven Dean by the relaxed state she was in now.

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked, wondering if this was the spot that his father had written the coordinates down for. Riley looked over Roy's shoulder as the man pulled out a GPS, hoping this was the spot.

"Thirty-five and minus one-eleven." Roy read out. Riley looked over and met Sam's eyes and he nodded once. This was the place. Dean suddenly motioned for them to follow him and he walked a bit away from the rest of the group.

"You hear that?" Dean asked while his eyes were focused on the trees.

"Yeah. Not even crickets." Sam answered. Riley frowned and nodded.

"No birds either." She stated. "I don't like it here. It's creepy." Sam looked over and she grinned sheepishly back at him. "Well it is." She said in defense and Sam only smiled wider.

"I'm gonna take a look around." Roy said suddenly and the three looked over at him quickly, coming out of their meeting.

"You shouldn't go off by yourself." Sam warned but Roy only smirked at him, being the big time hunter he was.

"That's sweet." He half mocked. "Don't worry about me." He pushed his way between the two brothers and moved into the trees. "See ya." He called back to Riley who only frowned after him.

"It isn't safe to leave him alone out there." She murmured and Dean looked at her.

"Worried?" He mocked half wondering where that had come from. Riley's eyes narrowed at him.

"I just don't want to find a dead body." She snapped, turning on her heels and marching into the trees.

Dean sighed after her. "All right, everybody stays together. Let's go." He murmured and started to follow Riley quickly. They came to another clearing where there were some large boulders and smaller trees. Roy had moved on ahead and Riley soon lost track of him and decided to wait and walk with the others.

Ben pulled back a branch on a tree nearby and Riley stopped him from moving when she had spotted something.

"Hey, Sam." She called. Sam walked over and examined the drawing.

"That's a hell of a find Ben. Those are Anasazi." Sam said with slight praise, a hand reaching out to touch the carving.

"What's that?" Ben asked, with interest.

"Ancient Indians." He replied. "They were this whole civilization that just vanished completely. No one really knows why." Sam frowned slightly at the figure.

"What is it?" Riley wondered and Sam looked her.

"I've seen that somewhere before."

"Hailey! Over here!" Roy called from up ahead before Riley could say anything.

Hailey took off running toward the sound of Roy's voice and everyone else followed closely, racing over a little embankment into the next clearing. Hailey was the first to pause.

"Oh my God." She breathed, her eyes surveying the damage. Tents lay strewn and shredded across the camp site, though most the items remained like they had been put. Dean paused to look at one of the tents which had blood smeared on it and his eyes flickered around the perimeter. Riley was eyeing the upturned camp chairs, sleeping bags, and the assorted camping supplies like dishes, cutlery, and utensils that littered the area.

"Looks like a grizzly." Roy commented, looking over at the rest of the group. Riley looked at Dean, hoping he'd know what really did this, but even he looked worried. Hailey began to call out for her brother, letting her backpack hit the ground.

"Tommy..." She said lowly before calling out louder. "Tommy! Tommy!" Sam jogged after her and shushed her.

"Shhh." He murmured.

"Why?" Hailey wondered aloud.

"Something might still be out there."

"Sam!" Dean called out and Sam and Riley ran over to see what he had found. He was a few yards into the woods, crouching down looking at something on the ground. They came up to him and crouched down too.

"The bodies were dragged from the camp site." Dean remarked, nodding at the clearly defined drag marks. "But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird." He stood up and Riley bit her lip.

"What is it?"

"I'll tell you what, that's no skinwalker or black dog." He told her seriously. She still looked worried, but quickly hid it.

They returned to the camp site and Dean spotted Hailey struggling not to cry over her brother's broken cell phone.

"Hey, he could still be alive," He said reassuringly, but Hailey just looked at him.

"Help! Help!" A male voice screamed out a good distance away and everyone stood up. Dean and Roy pulled their guns and ran in the direction they'd heard the screams from with everyone else following close behind. Coming to a clearing they stopped, with Roy was training his gun on the trees around them.

"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Hailey asked what everyone was thinking.

Riley turned to Sam. "Wendiego?" She mouthed and she saw his eyes lit up. He nodded slowly.

"Everybody back to camp." He announced suddenly, startling everyone and having them jogging back the way they had just come. Everyone's stuff was gone.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean muttered under his breath.

"Our packs!" Hailey cried out angrily and a little scared.

Roy looked at the ground where he had set his bag. "So much for my GPS and satellite phone." He murmured.

"What the hell is going on?" Hailey asked worriedly.

"It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help," Sam stated and Riley sighed.

"I hate the woods." She muttered and Dean rolled his eyes at her.

"You mean someone, some nutjob out there just stole all our gear?" Roy asked, continuing to look out into the trees as they stood around.

"I need to speak with you…In private." Sam uttered to Riley and Dean who looked over at him in surprise. They moved away from the group like they were looking for tracks, trying and probably failing to look unsuspicious. Sam looked back at the others who were talking amongst themselves before looking at Dean.

"They can't hear us." Riley supplied and Sam nodded.

"Okay. Let me see Dad's journal." Dean handed it to him and Sam began flipping pages. Suddenly the flipping stopped. "All right. Check that out." He told them and turned the book around. There was a picture in it and some writings.

Dean eyed the page. "Oh come on," He laughed. "Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods, or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west."

"Think about it Dean, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice..." Riley trailed off. "That's got to be what it is."

He nodded at her and then scowled. "Great..." He held up his gun. "Well this is useless then."

"We gotta get these people to safety." Sam stated before they headed back to camp.

"Sam, it's almost nightfall. We don't have much of choice in leaving." Riley protested. "I'm not walking in the dark and it's not a good idea to make Hailey, Ben, and Roy march defenseless in the dark either."

"Well, it's not safe for us here." He countered. "We have to try at least." He came back into the campsite, Dean and Riley at his heels.

"All right, listen up, it's time to go. Things have gotten... more complicated." He said to the group.

"What?" Hailey asked looking back and forth from Sam to Roy. She couldn't believe it.

"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it," Roy said smugly, patting his gun.

"You don't understand." Riley said. "It's not safe here for anyone."

"It's not me I'm worried about." Sam added. "If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now."

"One," Roy stated angrily, "-you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders."

"Relax." Dean stated, making Roy look at him.

"We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right?" Sam practically snapped. "I'm trying to protect you." Roy stepped right up into Sam's face instantly.

"You protect me?" He said arrogantly, mocking the younger man. "I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night."

"Roy." Riley snapped. "Stop it."

"Yeah?" Sam responded, unfazed by Roy's demeanor. "It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here."

"How the hell do you put up with them?" Roy asked Riley. "Did they fill your head with this bullshit?"

"Shut up and listen." She snapped.

"You're both crazy." Roy pushed Riley aside and she gritted her teeth as he moved to stood before Sam.

"Yeah?" Sam challenged. "You ever hunt a Wen-" Dean gave him a hard shove interrupting what he'd been about to say.

"Chill out." Dean ordered, pushing a finger to his brother's chest.

"Roy!" Hailey yelled. "Stop. Stop it! Everybody just stop!" She pushed her way in to the middle. "Look, Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him." Everyone was silent for a moment and then Riley spoke up.

"It's getting dark." She said, looking at Sam and Dean. Both nodded at her.

"This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night." Dean said for everyone to hear. Riley shivered. She remembered all too well the night she, Sam, John, and Dean had faced off with a Wendigo.

"We'll never beat it, not in the dark." She murmured and Dean glanced at her. "We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

"How?" Hailey asked and Dean only patted his jacket, where the journal was sitting.

When they had drawn the protective circle, they started a fire. Riley, Ben, and Hailey gathered around it for warmth. Hailey looked over at Dean, wondering if what he was going was real.

"One more time, that's -?" She asked, indicating at the symbols that he had drawn into the ground.

"Anasazi symbols," Dean answered her, without turning around. "It's for protection. The Wendigo can't cross over them." Roy laughed at this, his gun slung over his shoulder as he walked back and forth.

"Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean muttered loudly. Sam was sitting on the edge of the camp site staring out into the darkness and Riley was worried. She got up, despite the fact that she needed the warmth of the fire and came to sit by him.

"You should sit closer to the fire." She murmured to him and leaned against him. "You're freezing." Sam sighed and looked at her.

"Correction. You're freezing."

"Right." She laughed. "You know, I really want some marshmallows." Sam snorted and Riley sighed. "It'll stop hurting, Sam. I promise." She murmured and said nothing more. Sam sighed and nodded slowly.

Dean walked over to sit on the other side of Riley. "What's going on in that freaky head of yours?" He asked, plopping down on the log.

"Dean-" Sam began to protest but Dean cut him off.

"No, you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man. It's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"

"Dad's not here." Sam said after a minute. "I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign right?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Dean murmured. "Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek."

"Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean why are we still even here?" Sam asked and he struck at the ground with a stick, looking frustrated.

Dean moved so that he was crouching in front of Sam and held up John's journal.

"This is why." He said to his brother and he patted the top of the journal. "This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us." Sam shook his head.

"Maybe he wants us to pick up where he left off. Saving people, hunting things. The family business."

"I'm starting to think that John wants us to go through obstacles to find him." Riley murmured. Dean snorted in agreement.

"It makes no sense." Sam ran his hands over his face in frustration and Riley tried to calm him down. "Why doesn't he just - call us? Why doesn't he - tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?"

"I dunno." Dean admitted, for once looking unsure. "But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it."

"Dean... no." Sam shook his head. "I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about." Riley became silent and Dean noticed the faraway look in her eyes. She needed him too.

"Okay, all right, Sam, we'll find them. I promise. Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself." Dean said trying to pacify him. "I mean, this search could take a while. All that anger, you can't keep it burning on the long haul. It's gonna kill you."

"Patience, Sammy." Riley murmured, raising her head up to look at him. "You need to be patient. There's a reason that things are the way they are."

"She's right." Dean said softly.

"How do you guys do it?" Sam asked suddenly, his voice breaking and Dean looked back at him. Riley's gaze fell back on him too. "How does Dad do it?"

"Them." Riley said, nodding at Hailey and Ben. "Helping others makes it easier. Make things a little bit more bearable."

Dean nodded at her in agreement. "Yeah, I figure our family's already screwed to hell. Why not help out someone else?" Sometimes, most of the time, he didn't get her but occasionally they shared the same thought.

"We'll find out what happened to you, Blondie." Dean told her and Riley felt warm all of the sudden. "And I'll tell you what else helps. Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." Sam had to smile at that, and Riley smiled too.

"Help me!" A voice in the darkness called out suddenly and a twig snapped a little too close to their campsite. "Please!" The voice called out and everyone was on their feet and surrounding the fire.

"Here we go again." Riley muttered and she and Sam shone their flashlights into the trees. Dean pulled his gun out and cocked it, readying it although it really wouldn't do them much good. Wendigos couldn't be killed by a gun.

"Help!" The voice called out and Riley shook her head.

"It's trying to draw us out." Dean said. "Just stay cool. Stay put."

"Inside the magic circle?" Roy mocked, his gun raised in front of him protectively. Riley frowned at him.

"Hey, this magic circle is going to protect you." She snapped at him and he rolled his eyes. Dean briefly wondered where that aggression had suddenly come from.

"Help! Help me, ple-!" The voice again and it sounded like a struggle was going on. An odd growling noise followed and Riley shivered. Roy pointed his gun at the sound.

"Okay, that's no grizzly." He conceded, looking cautiously around and Riley glanced at Hailey and Ben.

"It's okay. You'll be all right, I promise." She murmured to them. All the sudden, a flurry of movement rushed past quickly. Hailey shrieked and she and Ben moved closer together.

"It's here." Sam said and Roy started shooting at the bushes when someone moved within them. Something cried out seconds later.

"I hit it!" He shouted and started running into the dark.

"Roy! Roy, come back!" Riley shouted and then she turned to Dean. "I'll stay with Ben and Hailey." He nodded at her before disappearing into the trees with Sam.

"It's over here! It's in the tree!" Roy's voice called from up ahead and then there was only Dean calling out Roy's name.

"Oh...no."

Hailey looked at her. "What? What is it?" Riley looked at her, having not known she had spoken aloud.

"He's gone." She murmured, looking the girl in the eye. "Roy's gone." Hailey put a hand to her mouth, while Ben paled and Riley went to sit on the top of an old stump to wait for Dean and Sam.

They came back a few minutes later, and Riley heard them talking lowly to Hailey and Ben. She ignored them and started re-lacing her boots, mostly to have something to do, but also because the boots were a size too big, making them slip down and loosen easily. The heavy tread of Dean's biker boots, alerted her to his presence, but she didn't turn around to acknowledge him.

"Well…Roy's gone." She nodded and heaved a sigh. Dean moved in front of her. "Look, Blondie…about you and Roy…"

"You thought me and Mr. Macho had a thing?" She asked arching an eyebrow. "We didn't."

"Oh…well…okay then." He said awkwardly and Riley smirked, patting his cheek.

"Don't worry. You're not being replaced." A particular feeling coiled in his gut at her touching his face and her words, though he knew she didn't really mean then.

He turned his head looked over his shoulder at Sam, Hailey, and Ben.

"Come on, it'll be morning soon and we need sleep." He started back to the fire and Riley slowly followed him.

"Um…I gotta go." She muttered and Dean looked at her.

"What? Go where?"

"You know." She said rolling her eyes. "Go." Dean's mouth formed an "o" and then he waved at her to go on. "I'm not going to pee with you nearby."

"I won't look." Dean snorted. "I'm not letting anyone else out of my sight, okay?"

"Fine. But if you turn around…." She walked off into the trees with him behind her. She went into the bushes ahead and he waited.

"I won't look. Just go." Dean stated.

"Stop talking." She said. "I can't go knowing your there."

"Women…" He muttered under his breath. After a moment Riley spoke up again.

"Okay, you're gonna have to make some kind of noise. It's awkward." Dean groaned aloud. He could feel a headache coming on.

Daylight shimmered through the trees the next morning and Riley sat up blearily haven gotten hardly any sleep. She looked around for everyone else as she stood up from the ground. Sam was sitting with his back the tree stump she had sat on last night, the journal in his hands. His gaze was far out and unseeing, mind elsewhere than where they were and Riley didn't disturb him as she went by to see where Dean had gone. He was examining claw marks on a tree, Hailey not far from him, talking actively.

"I don't…I mean these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real," The girl was saying, head shaking. Dean turned from the clawed tree and walked around.

"I wish I could tell you different." He said softly and he saw Riley. "Morning, Blondie."

"Why didn't you guys wake me?"

"Because you needed the extra sleep." He replied and Riley nodded.

"I wish it had helped." She stated and he smiled at her grimly.

"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Hailey asked nervously.

"We don't," Dean replied. "But we're safe for now." He crouched down in front of her and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"How do you know about this stuff?"

"It kind of runs in the family." Dean answered after a bit of consideration and then stood up again.

"What about you?" Hailey asked Riley who looked surprised.

"Me? Well…I suppose family covers my situation too. I was brought up on doing things like this."

"Hey," Sam said, walking over to them quickly. Both Riley and Hailey stood up at his arrival. "So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch."

"Well, hell, you know I'm in," Dean said excitedly and Riley smiled.

"Me too."

"'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'" Sam explained, pointing at the picture in John's journal and showing it to Ben and Hailey. Ben realized it was the same picture he had seen on the tree yesterday.

"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter." Dean added, coming to stand next to them.

"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Hailey asked as we all watched Dean picking up random items off the ground.

"Well it's always the same." He explained picking up things off the ground and examining them. "During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

"Like the Donner Party." Ben said suddenly and Sam nodded.

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality." Riley counted off and Sam smiled at her.

"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less-than-human thing. You're always hungry." Dean informed them.

Hailey looked at them with fear in her eyes. "So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Dean looked at Sam and then back at her.

"You're not gonna like it."

She sucked in a breath. "Tell me."

"More than anything," Dean started, "A Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, stores them so it can feed whenever it wants." Hailey looked horrified and so did Ben. Riley was too for that matter, but she didn't show it. "If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden and safe. And we gotta track it back there."

"And then how do we stop it?" Hailey asked, looking determined.

"Well, guns are useless, so are knives." Dean said. "Basically -" He held up a can of lighter fluid, an empty beer bottle and the white cloth which he'd picked up from the discarded items around the campsite. "We gotta torch the sucker."

Dean led the way through the trees followed by Hailey, Ben, Sam, and Riley. They kept silent for the most part, and after a while started to notice deep claw marks on some of the trees and dried blood. They came into a clearing and Riley looked around as did Sam.

"Dean!" He called suddenly and Dean walked back towards them.

"What is it?" He asked and Sam motioned at the claw marks and blood that were on every tree around them.

"It lured us into a trap." Riley murmured and Dean frowned.

"You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct." Sam said lowly. "They were almost too easy to follow." A growl came from somewhere close by and everyone looked around in alarm. The bushes rustled every time it went by and Riley backed up into a tree, keeping her eyes peeled for the creature.

Something wet hit rained on her jacket. She touched the spots and blanched. It was blood. She looked up slowly and gasped. Roy was hanging above her.

"Oh, shit." She said and the boys turned around. With a snap of a branch, Roy's boy went crashing down from the trees.

Riley yelped as the body hit her and knocked her backward as it landed with a bone breaking thud on the ground. Sam went over to help her up and she clung to him.

"Damn it, his neck's broken," Dean muttered, checking Roy.

"Riley, are you okay?" Sam asked softly and she nodded.

"Of course, Sammy." She murmured, giving him a shaky smile. He looked ready to argue when the growling came again. Dean stood up quickly.

"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" He yelled, shooing them all into the woods. Directionless and panicky everyone ran through the trees, each person trying to keep up with whoever was in front of them. Ben tripped over a tree root and Riley and Sam ran back to help him to his feet.

"We got ya." Sam said and urged Ben in the direction Dean and Hailey had run. Riley kept her hand on Ben as they ran, trying to find Dean. Hailey gave a scream and together, the trio ran towards the sound. When they finally stopped, Sam lifted a broken beer bottle that Dean had been hoping to use in order to torch the monster.

"Hailey!" Ben called out worriedly, but was nowhere in sight.

"Dean!" Riley yelled out. Sam met her eyes. The Wendigo had them. Having no choice and no trail they just had to hope that if they kept going straight they would find them.

"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben asked as they walked along the forest.

"Honestly? Roy shot it and pissed it off." Riley answered. He suddenly darted up the trail and picked something up from the ground.

"They went this way." He said confidently.

"How do you know?" She asked and Ben tossed the small item at her. She caught it and looked down at her hand. It was a peanut M&M. "Of course." She snickered and Sam looked over her shoulder.

He laughed. "It's better than breadcrumbs." He told her with a smile and they followed the trail of candy.

"You know I've never liked that story."

"Hansel and Gretel?"

"Yeah…I don't like witches."

Sam snickered and led the way down the trail of candy. The three soon came upon an old abandoned mine, the entrance barred with boards, and a sign on the side that read 'WARNING! DANGER! DO NOT ENTER, EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIAL."

"Okay," Began Riley. "If I were an evil nasty people eating creature, this would be my home." She stated and Sam smirked before shrugging and going through the loose boards.

Riley's flashlight lit their way through the dark mine and being the only girl Sam made sure she was near him as they walked along. The Wendigo's growls came from further down the mine and Riley turned her flashlight off instantly. Sam pressed her and Ben against the far wall. Ben let out a curse as the Wendigo was suddenly silhouetted against the light shining in from the entrance to the mine. Sam moved his hand and held it over the young boy's mouth, shushing him silently. Riley eyed the monster, keeping a hand on Sam's sleeve.

After a moment, the Wendigo went down another tunnel and disappeared from sight. Sam was the first to move and he did so slowly and unsurely. Once he was sure the thing wasn't around he gestured for Riley and Ben to follow him. A little way down the tunnel they went, keeping silent and on the lookout for Dean and Hailey.

Creak.

Riley yelped a bit sounding a bit like a kitten meowing and then looked at her feet. The boards under her feet were wobbly and extremely unstable.

"Sam…" She whispered and he turned to her just as the floorboards gave away and the three of them were sent falling down into the dark.

Riley moaned and rolled onto her back. "Sammy?"

"I'm right here." Sam groaned and his hand found hers. "Careful." He warned her and helped her sit up. Their eyes adjusted to the dark and Riley looked down.

"Oh, God." She moaned. They were sitting in a pile of dried up human bones. Ben's eyes opened and he saw skulls. He cried out in shock and backed up, bumping into Riley and Sam who had just stood up.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." Sam whispered quickly, comforting the teen. Riley felt something trickling down her leg and she looked to see blood coming from a deep cut on her upper thigh.

"Riles?" Sam murmured. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She said, her voice painfilled and Sam moved closer. "Just not going to be able to walk very good on it."

He flicked on his flashlight to see a bit better and helped her rip part of her shirt to make a makeshift bandage.

She looked up and then gaped.

"Sam!" Riley murmured and he and Ben turned around. Two figures were hanging from the supporting beams above them. Dean and Hailey. Getting help from Sam and Ben, Riley limped over to where the two were hanging from the support beams. Ben went to his sister and tried to wake her up, while she and Sam went to Dean.

"Dean." Riley murmured, shaking him gently. He groaned and turned, his face smeared with blood.

"Dean?" Sam urged. His eyes opened and Riley sighed with relief. Sam smiled too.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked worriedly. Dean blinked dizzily and winced, but he nodded.

"Yeah." He grunted.

"Here, Sam you catch him." She murmured and leaning on one leg and up on her tiptoes to slightly pressed against Dean's chest she started cutting at his bonds with her pocketknife. Dean chuckled a bit and Riley rolled her eyes.

"Don't get any ideas." She murmured, half-wondering how he could be cracking jokes at a time like this. Then again, it was Dean.

"What? You have to admit it's a little kinky."

She ended up laughing too. "I don't even think I want to know how you have fun with that." Dean gave her a heated grin that made her cheeks flush.

"You would."

"Oh, shut up." She told him with a shake of her head and stepped back as the rope was cut.

"Gotcha." Sam murmured as he lowered his brother down.

"Hailey, wake up." Ben spoke to his sister and Riley went over to cut her loose. Sam moved Dean over to a clear spot on the floor and settled him down. Dean groaned and his breathing quickened slightly from the move.

"I thought you had died." Sam murmured and Dean looked at him with a groan of pain. "You sure you're, all right?" He asked with worry.

"Yeah, yep." He answered in a grunt of agony. "Where is he?"

"It's gone for now." Sam said, helping Hailey sit down beside Dean who noticed Riley's reddened cloth around her leg.

"What happened?" He asked with a frown.

"You know it's not a hunt unless I'm bleeding or bruised." She commented and he snorted. "I'll be fine once we get out of here." He nodded and sat back against the wall.

Hailey rubbed her wrists, tossing the rope aside while Ben looked over her worriedly. Hailey suddenly looked around the room and gasped. She stood up quickly and Ben looked over to see what she had spotted. Riley, Sam, and Dean soon saw what had her gasping. A young man was hanging from the rafters a few feet away from them. Dean stayed put, still frowning at Riley, while Sam went over to see who he was.

"Tommy?" Hailey murmured as she reached out to touch her brother's cheek. Suddenly Tommy's head jerked up and he gasped for air, looking alarmed. Hailey shrieked once. Dean saw Riley jump at the noise and snickered at her. She glared at him over her shoulder.

"Cut him down!" Hailey begged and Sam went to work on getting the rope cut. Hailey and Ben moved forward to support their brother.

"We're gonna get you home." Hailey promised the weary young man and Riley smiled at the reunited family before turning to dig through their stolen packs that were in the corner.

"That was clever what you did with the candy." Riley said and Dean paused in his search to look and see if she was teasing him. She wasn't looking at him.

"Yeah I figured that you'd guys see that." He said lowly, before reaching into a pack and pulling out two flares guns. He smirked at Riley who smiled back as he got to his feet.

"Check it out." He called to Sam who turned to look at him.

"Flare guns." Sam said with a grin. "Those'll work." Dean grinned and twirled the guns on his fingers like a cowboy.

Everyone moved down the tunnel. Dean lead the way with Sam following him, one of the flare guns in hand. Hailey and Ben followed after, carrying Tommy between them as the man limped along. Riley kept behind them, wincing with every step.

Growling echoed down the tunnel and everyone stopped walking.

"Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean said, taking a step forward and Riley frowned.

"Fantastic." She muttered.

"We'll never outrun it," Hailey said nervously. Dean looked back and exchanged looks with Sam who had one of the flare guns pointed in the direction the sound had come from.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean wondered and Sam nodded. Riley knew from experience that when they got that look in their eyes, they had a plan.

"Yeah, I think so." Sam answered aloud.

Riley frowned.

"All right, listen to me." Dean told the others. "Stay with Sam and Riley. They'll get you out of here."

"Dean-" She began but he cut her off.

"No. Not with that leg of yours." He said and smirked when she huffed at him. "Next time, Blondie." He tweaked her nose and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Be careful." She told Dean before she realized what she said aloud. When his eyebrows rose, she quickly smirked and patted his shoulder, glad it was too dark to see her reddened face. "You don't want to end up shooting yourself." He rolled his eyes and went down the tunnel.

"What is he gonna do?" Hailey asked and Riley looked at the girl.

"Something he probably shouldn't, but don't worry his wild plans usually work."

"Chow time, you freaky bastard!" Dean shouted and Riley gave Hailey a look that said 'told you so'. "Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste good!" He kept moving until he was completely out of sight, disappearing around a corner and into the dark with a gesture for them to get going. Riley went up the tunnel first and then nodded at Sam.

"All right, come on! Hurry!" He and started leading them down the tunnel. Riley brought up the rear, in case she needed to help Tommy and his siblings. It was slow going with an injured young man to tug along, but it wasn't from lack of trying. Tommy's muscles had withered slightly from nonuse and he had difficulty moving along. He was tiring quickly and Riley wasn't fairing much better with her limping.

Wendigo growls came from in front of them and Sam lifted the flare gun. Riley knew that he was debating what to do next.

"Get them out of here, Riles." He said lowly and she sighed with a nod of her head. There was no use arguing.

"Sam, no!" Hailey murmured.

"I'll get them out, you just shoot the damn thing." Riley told him and he nodded. The growling grew louder and she turned around.

"We have to go now!" She stated and they started down a new tunnel. A loud roar sounded behind them and Riley turned her head.

"Sam!" She cried when she heard the tell-tale sound of a flare gun shooting off. Seconds later, he came barreling up from down the tunnel and he took hold of Tommy to try and help them along.

"Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry." Sam yelled and they raced/hobbled up the tunnel.

"Oh, God." Riley stated when her hands came in contact with a wall. "Dead End." She turned around and Sam stiffened.

"Get behind me!" He shouted, holding out his arms to block and shield the siblings and Riley. The girl clung to Sam's jacket and pulled herself to his side. He glanced at her.

"You're not going to face that thing alone." She said and he only nodded. The Wendigo approached slowly, its large limbs shifting in the dark. It came into the light, showing that it was tall and gangly with long claws. It gave a loud roar that made Riley and Hailey scream out.

"Hey!" A familiar voice yelled. The Wendigo whipped around to face Dean. The flare gun went off and the creature began to light up under its skin and burn. With shrieks of pain it fell to the floor in flames.

"Not bad, huh?" Dean asked and Riley smiled.

"Nice, shootin' Tex." She told him and he laughed. Sam shook his head and Hailey smiled at Dean.

"So the bear came back again after you yelled at it?" The officer asked and Ben nodded, sticking to the story that Sam helped he come up with. They were outside the Ranger Station talking with some police officers, while an ambulance tended to Tommy and to Dean, Hailey, and Riley's minor injuries.

"That's when it circled the campsite." Ben told them while Sam stood behind him. "I mean, this grizzly must have weight eight hundred, nine hundred pounds!" The officer nodded at him.

"All right, we'll go after it first thing." He promised and walked off. Sam smiled at Ben and then looked over at where Riley was sitting on a bench and they walked over.

"How's your leg?" Sam asked her.

"Wasn't deep enough for stitches, so they bandaged it really good." She told him with a smile. "Nothing to worry about."

Dean and Hailey walked towards the group.

"So really, I don't know how to thank you." She started. Dean gave her an enticing look.

"Must you cheapen the moment?" She asked with a slight laugh.

"Yeah." He told her with a laugh of his own.

"Are you riding with your brother?" A lady asked from the ambulance and Hailey looked at her.

"Yeah." She told her and then looked back at Dean. Riley, Sam, and Ben were on their way over.

She leaned close to Dean and kissed his cheek. "I hope you find your father." She whispered to him and Riley looked away from them.

Dean nodded at her with a small smile and Hailey tucked an arm around Ben, leading him to the ambulance.

"Thanks, Sam." She said as she passed by and Riley came up to Sam's side.

They watched until the doors of the ambulance were shut.

"Man, I hate camping." Dean muttered and Riley sighed.

"Me too." She and Sam said at the same time and Dean snorted.

"How are you feeling?" Riley asked him and Dean nodded at her.

"I'll be all right." He murmured and then looked at Sam. "Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Sam said, nodding, looking back at me with a grin. "But in the meantime…" He paused and winked at Riley. "I'm driving!" Riley laughed and Dean saw that both of them were watching him. He tossed the keys to Sam after a minute and then looked at Riley.

"You get shot gun." He told her and Riley looked at him in disbelief.

"You sure?" She asked, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah." Riley smiled at him and he felt his stomach flip-flop. What the hell? Must be getting sick. He put a hand to his head with a groan and Riley touched his arm. Dean jumped and looked at her.

"Are you all right?" She asked, those baby blue eyes searching his face and he found he couldn't look away.

"Just need some shut eye." He told her and climbed into the back seat. Riley shrugged at Sam and they both got into the Impala.

"Does this mean I get to pick the music?" Sam asked with cheeky grin. "House rules."

"Fine." Dean stated. "But I swear man, you put in anything that's girly…You're not ever driving this car again." Sam and Riley laughed and Dean frowned. "I'm not kidding."

"Sure, Dean." Sam teased. "Sure."

Review?