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The Spirit of Arrow Lake

Chapter six

Sam landed hard in the raft and cried out in pain as his bad leg twisted beneath him. Dean, hearing him, instinctively stepped forward to help but Rob jumped in the raft and once more put the gun at Sam's head.

"Come closer and I'll put a bullet in his brain and then I'll just take someone else with us."

Dean froze in his spot; he knew the man meant it. Rob then roughly pulled Sam's arms behind his back and tied them. Mick jumped in the raft then reached over and slashed the other raft, all Dean could do was watch helplessly as the two men rowed out into the river and began to float with the current. He winced when he saw Rob deliberately kick Sam just to irritate him, then he looked back at Dean and smiled.

"We'll take good care of your brother."

"Anything happens to him, I'll track you down and I swear I'll kill both of you." Dean screamed angrily over to them.

They just waved him off and headed down the river. Dean knew these men would more then likely kill his brother as soon as they thought they didn't need him anymore. He ran along the river bank wincing in pain as he held his arm over his injured rib cage and watched the raft round a bend in the river and disappear. His eyes filled up at the thought that he may never see Sam again. He wiped angrily at his tears and headed back to camp.

"What the hell was that all about?" Alex asked when Dean walked over.

"They were looking for some money they apparently hid along the riverbank."

"Why did they take your brother?" Dave asked.

"I don't know, maybe for insurance. If they're caught they'd have him to bargain with."

"Or maybe they need him to help them get through the rapids. It would be impossible with only two men and still near to impossible with three."

"If they expect help from Sam they're going to be sorely disappointed. I know my brother, he's not about to cooperate with them." Dean spoke with a sense of pride as he blinked back tears. He knew his brother wouldn't help the men since it was only his life in danger and no one else's. But it also meant if he didn't cooperate there would be no reason to keep him alive. His heart broke as he looked back at the now empty river.

"You know they'll kill him when they don't need him anymore." Alex said softly.

Dean nodded as Alex voiced what he himself was thinking. He turned back to Alex.

"That's why we got to get this raft fixed and on the river."

"We can patch the raft and pump it back up but we can't go out on the river at night, its way too dangerous. The next set of rapids is only a short way down the river."

"My brother's out there! And I'm not losing him!" Dean snapped angrily.

"Hey buddy we're on your side but the rivers too dangerous and we still got that thing out there to worry about. Plus I have people here I have to protect."

Dean started to walk back to the river bank.

"We're you going?"

"I'm going to follow the river till I find them. They won't be able to go far in the dark."

"How do you expect to stop them? They have guns, you don't have anything."

"Oh, I'll stop them and I'll kill them with my bare hands if they hurt my brother."

"How are you going to do that? Look at you; I can see you're hurting." Alex had noticed Dean was favoring his left side.

"I'm fine." He said his eyes never leaving the river.

Walt walked over with his wife and son.

"Look we need to stick together. I'm sorry about your brother, I really am, but … he might already be dead. They could have dumped him in the river and with his hands tied… But if that thing comes here tonight we need you here with us. I got a wife and son to protect."

"I know….but I need to find my brother. Besides if that thing decides to attack our camp, I don't think it matters how many people are here…"
Dean looked out over the water. He was torn about what to do. His heart was telling him he had to find Sam, but these people needed him too and he couldn't just desert them. He knew Sam would want him to stay here and try to help the others. He didn't try to hide the tears that ran down his face.

Further down the river

Sam had managed to pull himself up to one of the seats in the raft. His leg felt like it was on fire as he tried to get as comfortable as possible. In his mind he went over his options. He knew these men would kill him when they no longer needed him so he had to somehow get away from them. He thought of just flipping himself over the side, but with his hands tied he'd drown for sure. But maybe drowning was better then getting shot, either way he'd be dead. He worried about Dean. He knew his older brother was protective of him and would be driving himself crazy worrying about him. He hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid like trying to follow him. These men had guns and he knew they wouldn't hesitate to use them. Off in the distance he could hear the unmistakable roar of the rapids fast approaching. He swallowed the fear in his throat when he thought of trying to get through them with his hands tied, but just then Rob reached over and untied him.

"You're going to help us get through these rapids. You try anything funny and you're dead." Rob said.

"Maybe if you cooperate we'll let you live." Mick added.

It was then that Sam smelled the creature. He knew it was nearby. He glanced around in the darkness and instinctively felt toward the crossbow hidden under his pant's leg. Luckily it was still there. He prayed Dean was right and that silver would indeed kill the thing if it attacked.

The rapids approached and as they reached the start of them Sam threw himself off the raft and into the river.

"Son of a bitch!" Rob screamed as he watched Sam go over. He drew his gun and had only a second to fire one shot before the raft started rocking violently as it entered the rapids. But one shot was all he needed. He watched as Sam threw his head back in pain as the bullet tore into his back.

Back at the campsite

They all had heard the single gun shot that echo through the canyon and they turned as one and looked at Dean who couldn't hide the anguish on his face. He might have just heard his brother being killed.

TBC