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Snow Beast

Chapter eight

"Sammy!" Dean ran to his brother's side.

"Oh God Dean…I didn't see it….I'm sorry, I didn't see it." Sam sat in the snow his hands wrapped just below his left knee squeezing it as hard as he could trying to stop the pain. The steel teeth of the trap dug deep into his flesh a few inches above his ankle, his leg below the trap was soaked in blood. He knew by getting injured he might have sealed their fate. It would now be impossible to get to the lodge before the worse of the storm arrived. He could only hope to talk Dean into leaving him which he knew would be impossible.

"Sammy…" Dean knelt by his brother's side. "Hey Bro, it's not your fault so quit apologizing." Dean tried to hide the worry from his face as he tried to pry the trap open. He could only open it so far before it snapped back causing Sam to scream in agony. "Sorry Sammy." Dean's eyes glistened with tears as he looked at his brother. Sam had his head down, his eyes squeezed shut in pain. Dean followed the heavy steel chain that was attached to the trap to a spike that had been buried deep in a tree. He knew there was no way to pull it free. When Dean turned around Sam was looking at him.

"Dean." Sam said through teeth clenched in pain. "You got to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you Sam."

"You don't have a choice. I'm not going to be going anywhere and that thing is still out there… plus the snow's getting worse. It won't be long before you won't be able to go anywhere."

"Then we'll ride it out together."

"Damn it Dean, we'll both die then and you know it."

"No one's dying Sam, not you, not me."

"Please Dean…you got to go…you got to get out of here."

"You might as well shut up Sammy because I'm not leaving you." Dean knew there was no way he was going to leave his baby brother in the middle of a blizzard alone while he went for help. He also knew there would be no help until the blizzard was over. Even if he left Sam and went to the lodge to call for help he'd never make it back to his brother, not in this weather. The man back at the lodge had told them a Snowcat wouldn't even be able to make it through and Dean knew a rescue helicopter wouldn't be able to fly in the heavy wind.

"Please Dean; I don't want you dying up here with me."

Sam knew he was going to die, there was no way Dean could free him. The snow was already getting deep and the temperature was dropping fast, but Dean didn't have to die, if he left now he could still make it to the lodge. It would be slow going but he could make it.

Dean started digging into the snow with his hands. He remembered how Sam had survived a blizzard up in the mountains by digging a snow cave and staying in it till he was rescued; they'd do the same thing. Sam reached out and grabbed his arm.

"You don't have time for that. Go…get out of here before it's too late. Dad needs you, he can't lose both sons." Dean ignored him and continued digging. If Sam didn't make it he didn't want to either. He knew their dad would be devastated but he knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he lived and his brother died. "Damn it Dean, you got to go." Sam begged as the snow began to get heavier.

It was then they saw the bushes moving as something walked toward them. Dean pulled out his gun out and stepped protectively in front of Sam.

"Dean you can't kill it…not without the fire. You got to get out of here!" Sam shouted. He didn't want his brother to die trying to defend him.

Dean didn't move. He was just about ready to shoot when a man dressed in layers of clothing came out of the woods. He walked over and stood over Sam looking down at him.

"Damn it kid you sprung my trap." He spoke angrily, then looked at Dean. "What the hell are you two doing up here?"

"There was an avalanche and we had to run into the woods to get out of the way of it…we got lost…" Dean knelt down next to Sam. "We got to get this trap off of him and to shelter, there's a bad storm coming." Together the man and Dean managed to open the trap and Sam painfully pulled his leg free. "I got to get him down to the lodge."

"You'll never make it, not with this weather. I have a cabin nearby, we'll take him there." The man bent down and reset the trap. "Follow me and stay in my path, there's more of these traps up here."

Dean put Sam's arm over his shoulder and helped him walk. Blood from Sam's leg left a clear trail in the snow but when Dean glanced back he noticed the blood was almost immediately covered up by the heavy snow. Hopefully that meant that the thing wouldn't be able to track them.

The cabin

They entered the man's cabin and he motioned toward the bed. Dean helped Sam over to it and he lay down as Dean gently removed his boot. Sam could see the worried look on Dean's face.

"How bad is it?"

"I've seen worse." Dean said not wanting to worry his brother, but he could tell it was bad. Sam's entire foot was black and blue and the area above his ankle was surrounded entirely by deep puncture wounds from the teeth of the trap. Dean looked over at the man. "Do you have any kind of antibiotic ointment or bandages?"

The man walked over and looked down at Sam's leg.

"Nope. The boy's leg looks pretty bad….might lose him if infection sets in."

Dean ignored his comment.

"Do you have whiskey?" Dean knew he did, he could smell it on him.

"Yeah."

"I'm going to have to boil some water and clean out the wounds, and then I can use the whiskey to try to kill the germs." Dean looked over at the man. "Why do you have bear traps set up around here? I thought bear season wasn't until summer."

"Ain't bear I'm after."

"You've seen the creature?"

"Yep."

"Mister I hate to tell you this but those traps aren't going to hold it, they'll only anger it."

"Those traps will hold anything." The man walked over to a rifle hanging on the wall and took it down. "I'm going to trap that thing, and then I'm going to tranquilize it and sell it to the highest bidder."

TBC