Thanks again for the kind reviews, I hope you're not disappointed with the rest of the story.

Snow Beast

Chapter ten

Two days later

The snow had finally stopped and the sun was shining but Dean didn't have a reason to celebrate, Sam had broken out in a fever during the night and was now slightly delirious as he lay in bed the sweat glistening off his face and body. Dean had spent the entire night trying to cool him down by bringing in snow and letting it melt then sponging the cool water over his body. Earlier in the night he had unwrapped his brother's leg and hissed in his breath when he saw it, it was red and obviously infected. He knew what he had to do, but also knew there was nothing he could give Sam for the pain now that the whiskey was gone.

"Dean! Dean! Look out!" Sam screamed suddenly as he sat up in bed.

"It's okay, everything's fine." Dean comforted him as he pushed him back down. "It's just a dream Sam."

"It's coming Dean! You got to get out of here! You got to go!" Sam looked up at him with eyes glazed over with fever.

"Sammy it's okay, nothing's coming. We're safe."

"No…no….it's out there! I saw it, I saw it last night!" Sam once more struggled to sit up.

"Everything's fine Sammy…Nothing's out there…" Dean held him down the best he could as he looked over at Taylor. "Do you have any rope?"

"You going to tie him down?"

"I have to; I'm going to have to lance his leg to drain the infection and I can't have him moving around."

Taylor handed Dean a piece of rope which he cut into four pieces. He then tied Sam's arms and legs to the bedpost. Sam weakly tried to fight him but he was no match. Dean then began to boil water as he put a sharp hunting knife in the flame to sterilize it. When the knife was red hot he removed it from the flame and walked over to Sam, then looked over at Taylor.

"Try to keep him as steady as possible."

Taylor walked over and sat next to Sam and held him down the best he could. Sam squirmed on the bed his eyes wide with fear as he looked at the knife, but between the ropes and Taylor there was little he could do.

"I'm sorry Sammy; you know I have to do this." Dean looked at Sam with tears in his eyes knowing he was about to cause his brother a lot of pain.

He took the knife and made a deep slit across Sam's infected leg. Sam threw his head back and screamed in agony as blood and pus ran down his leg. He took a few deep breaths then his head fell to the side as he passed out.

"Kid looks pretty sick." Taylor said looking down at Sam as he stood up.

"Well hopefully now that the infection can drain out of his leg he'll get better." Dean said as he untied Sam then cleaned his leg with the hot water.

"I thought he was going to die last night with all that moaning he was doing, kept me up all night. He better not do that tonight or I swear I'll tie him up and gag him."

"Look, as soon as I can move him safely we're out of here."

Dean couldn't wait to get his brother out of there and back to the lodge. He didn't trust Taylor and was worried he might actually hurt Sam trying to keep him quiet. If Sam hadn't been so sick he would have left today but he knew he had to wait till Sam's fever broke, moving him now could kill him.

"Don't forget that case of whiskey you owe me." Taylor said looking down at Sam. He then reached out and roughly turned Sam's face toward him. "The boy looks more dead then alive. You probably wasted a good bottle of whiskey on him."

"Look, I know we owe you for letting us stay here, but I really wish you wouldn't touch my brother." Dean said taking Taylor's hand and pulling it away from Sam's face.

"Didn't mean no harm." Taylor said as he walked over and opened the door. He stood there for a few seconds then turned and looked at Dean. "Your brother was right, that thing was out here last night."

Dean walked over to the door and looked out. Large footprints could be seen a few yards from the house. Dean glanced back at Sam, he knew Sam had been in bed all night and there was no way he could see outside. Did Sam have a vision of the thing; is that how he knew it was outside Dean wondered? He also knew if the thing decided to attack there was little they could do.

TBC