Chapter 3

The first thought that drifts into Dean's consciousness is that he's back at the motel, waking up after a deep sleep. A sharp stab of pain through his head. Ow, what the fuck? Pain. Intense, throbbing, dull, fucking pain. Dean knows even before he opens his eyes that something isn't right. He can feel it. He isn't sure what is wrong exactly, but he feels…empty. Something isn't as it should be. Something is missing. Sammy.

Dean's eyes dart open but everything is still just as dark as it was with his eyes closed. Kidnapped? No, he can smell the outdoors, the cold evening air. He blinks a couple of times, trying to remember where he is, waiting for something to register with his brain. Then, shapes in the darkness. Trees. A very distant, very faint light overhead. The moon. I'm in the woods, he realises.

Ignoring the jarring pain shooting across his forehead, he forces himself to sit up, digging his palms into the muddy ground. Sam. Where's Sam? His younger brother had been right there before Dean was knocked out. And now he was gone. Sammy was gone.

The memories start to flood back. The drive to the woods. Following the map drawn by that Bethany chick. Almost giving up when their search came up empty. Then Sam had found something, right here, in this spot, on the ground. And then…darkness. Someone had knocked them out. Dean tries to call out but his voice is raspy from being unconscious for so long, from being without water. He clears his throat.

"SAM! SAMMY!"

Dean pauses, listening to the darkness. He hears noises. Trees whispering. The wind whistling through the undergrowth rhythmically. A small animal scurrying across the branches of a tree overhead. The distant buzz of flies. But no Sam. No shout from his brother, lost somewhere in the trees. No call for help. Nothing.

Dean slowly, silently, gets to his feet. Eyes scan the trees that seem to be closing in on him, their branches held menacingly out in front of them. Looks for something that could tell him where his brother is. Dean lifts his foot, preparing to take a step forward, but hesitates before setting it back down again. There's something here. The hair stands up on the back of his neck and he automatically begins to reach for the gun in the back of his jeans. It isn't there. Fuck.

There's a ringing noise, not close by but not far enough away to be ignored either. Bells. Bells in the middle of the fucking woods. I'm going crazy. The sound of hooves surrounds Dean, the echo making it near impossible to tell where the sound is coming from. I really am going crazy. Then, out of the trees, a shimmering white entity. A spirit. The Headless Horseman.

Dean stares in disbelief. The spirit halts for a moment, and if it had a head Dean would have sworn it was staring at him, before whirling and riding back into the trees.

Dean stands rooted to the spot, staring after the headless spirit in confusion. It didn't attack me. What the fuck, it didn't attack me? Dean remains poised for a moment, unsure whether the spirit is gone for good. When the trees begin to whisper again and the sound of the flies buzzing increases in volume, Dean moves silently and stealthily towards the trees, in the graceful way his younger brother always envied. If the spirit didn't want to hurt him, then maybe it wanted to show him something. He disappears into the trees where the Headless Horseman had gone only moments before.

Dean runs. Runs through the woods until his legs give out and he can barely breathe anymore, let alone keep moving. He collapses to the ground, waiting for his head to stop spinning and the feeling in his legs to return.

Glancing up at the sky, he realises the sun is high in the sky. He's been out here, in the middle of nowhere, for hours.

Dean shifts himself on the ground, trying to find a comfortable sitting position while he catches his breath. He'd found nothing. The spirit hadn't come back, or even left a trail. If it had wanted to show him something it had obviously given up now.

There had been no trace of Sammy either. If it weren't for Dean's memories, no one would even know Sam Winchester had even been out here in these God forsaken woods. Although he still refuses to believe it, there is nothing out here that will lead Dean to his brother. He has only two options left to choose from. Stay out here, tramping through these woods and wasting pointless hours while whatever has Sam could be doing God knows what to him, or go back into town and do some research. See if there's some connection between where the earlier victims disappeared, something that could point to where Sammy might have been taken. For once in his life, Dean decides to take the sensible option.

Dean sits in his treasured Impala, unmoving. He watches the police department building, knowing he's probably wasting his time, but he has no other choice. He has to find Sammy and the only way to do that is to connect the dots between the previous victims and find whatever is taking these people before it hurts Sam. With a disheartened sigh, Dean swings open the car door and heads for the building.

The girl at the desk looks to be in her early twenties. Dark haired, big-eyed, pretty, the type Dean would normally be flirting with by now but all he can think about at this moment is finding his brother. He doesn't have time for his usual antics. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the same FBI badge he'd used earlier that day.

Dean barely has time to open his mouth before the woman looks up and sees him. She flashes a smile.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Agent Bill Hodgkins, I'm with the FBI."

The woman nods. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hodgkins but we don't permit the Bureau to become involved with cases unless…"

Dean interjects. "I'm investigating the disappearances of Jake Hampshire and Carolina Newton. Both were American citizens, and both were murdered and decapitated in this area three months ago?"

The woman looks a little taken aback. "Oh. Well you'll have to wait for Burgh, Eric Burgh. He should be back in about half an hour?"

Dean plasters on a fake smile. "Well, you see…" He pauses, indicating he doesn't know the woman's name.

"Alicia."

"Alicia, I'm leaving town tonight and I really don't have the time to wait around. You know how it is for us law enforcement guys…" Dean laughs.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't matter if you just took a quick look at the records. As long as you don't leave the premises with them…"

Dean flashes another quick smile and nods. "Of course."

It's the sound of footsteps a short distance away that causes Sam to stir from his unconscious state. He opens his eyes to see a face, half hidden in shadow, staring at him through the bars of a cage. Sam jumps back across the floor of the cage, in shock for a moment. What the hell…? After a couple of minutes, realisation dawns on him. He's been kidnapped.

"Where am I?"

The face outside of the cage simply grins sadistically and steps to the side. As the light from various candles around the room illuminates his face, Sam realises what the man is. Human. Just a human. Was this the man really responsible for all of those disappearances? The headless corpses that showed up? The half-eaten hand Sam found in the jungle?

"Where am I?" Sam repeats, louder this time.

The man simply turns and walks out of the room. Sam shakes his head in frustration. Think, Sam, just think. There has to be a way out of here.

He steps forward to examine the front of the cage. There's a bolt at the top and a normal lock that appears to need a key. Plus the multiple padlocks holding the door in place. Heavy security, convenient, Sam thinks, smirking in spite of himself. Not even Dean would be able to get out of this. Sam sighs and sits back down on the floor of the cage, racking his brains for a way out of this mess.

Dean crosses the road and climbs into the front seat of the Impala. Almost an hour and he'd found absolutely nothing that pointed to where whoever kidnapped Sam might have taken his younger brother. This sucks out loud. There has to be something he'd missed. Some sort of pattern that indicates how this thing, whatever it is, is choosing its victims. Why had it taken Sam but not Dean? If it simply feeds off human flesh then why is it letting people escape? There has to be something else.

Almost two hours have passed since Sam regained consciousness and along with being confused, he is now bored out of his mind. There seems to be no possible way out of the cage and he still has no idea who his attacker is. All he knows is that he isn't the only victim. There's an older man, forty maybe fifty years old, in the cage beside him but he hasn't moved since Sam has been there. Sam isn't even sure if the poor guy is still alive.

Across the room, there is the screech of an un-oiled door swinging open. Sam's head jerks up but he can hardly see in the dim light coming from the only remaining candle that hasn't yet died down. The sound of footsteps grows closer and Sam can just make out a woman's voice, so soft it is barely audible, chanting the same phrase over and over again, like a religious person might repeat a phrase from the bible. She stops just outside Sam's cage and, even though he can't see her face, Sam can feel her eyes upon him.

"It's time." She whispers, her voice horse and raspy.

Sam barely has time to contemplate what she means by this before a shooting pain erupts through his skull and his vision becomes a brilliant white haze.

The next part won't be up for 2-3 weeks now 'cause I'm off to Florida in a couple of days, so I'msorry guys. Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll try to have the next chapter up a.s.a.p. after I get back.