Chapter Seven: Heyoka
The Winchester brothers were back at the motel. Dean was sitting at the small table with the laptop open in front of him. He looked over the top of the computer and watched as Sam, sitting on the bed, cleaned, loaded and packed the weapons they were going to take when they went after the Thunderbird. Something was definitely going on with Sam. Dean didn't mind his sudden renewed interest in girls and wanting to party, but it was like he suddenly had no fear. Like nothing was fazing him. Dean still had chills down his spine when he recalled the cold unflinching way Sam had told him about what the Thunderbird had done to the children in his vision. His Sam would never have been able to tell him about that vision without cracking. Not to mention he had just jumped off a roof onto the back of a crazed Thunderbird!
Dean looked back down at the laptop. He had done a Google search for Heyoka. It took several tries before he was able to come up with the correct spelling.He clicked on the first option to come up and started reading.
The Heyoka's were the contraries of the plains Indians. They acted in ridiculous ways often capable of bizarre acts. They were thought to be fearless and painless able to grab a piece of meat from a boiling pot of water. Despite their bizarre acts there were trusted as healers, interpreters of dreams. They were people of great medicine. A Heyoka was expected to act silly and foolhardy during a battle…
Sam looked over at Dean, "What are you doing?"
"Research," Dean told him.
"Dean we already know it's a Thunderbird, and we how to kill it. What more do we need to know?" Sam asked confused. This was so not like Dean.
"I'm just looking up something Red Wolf said to me."
"What?"
Not wanting Sam to know what he was really looking for he replied, "He said Thunderbirds live now in their human forms. He said something terrible must have happened to this Thunderbird to make it so angry."
Sam stood and set the .45 he'd been loading with silver bullets into his jacket pocket. He looked at Dean and replied, "I can't think of anything that would make someone kill a child the way that thing did in my vision."
"That's what I told Red Wolf." Dean said, "He told me I had a lot to learn."
Sam laughed, "Hell Dean, he just met you and already he's got you pegged."
"Ah, shut up!"
Sam laughed, "Let's do this I don't want to take a chance on that thing coming in the morning for that little girl."
"Do you think it will?" Dean asked as he closed the laptop, "We changed your vision."
"Yea, but how much did we change it? I mean we stopped the first attack, but if we're out hiking in the woods we're not going to be able to stop it from attacking the girl."
"Then let's get going. Have you got a fix on its location?"
Sam nodded his head holding up a GPS tracker. "Now let's go waste this thing."
They'd parked the car at the end of an old dirt road six hours back. Since then they'd been hiking the dense woods that surrounded the cliff where the Thunderbird had made its nest. The combination of near pitch darkness and dense forest were slowing them down a lot more than Dean expected. Not to mention that they were climbing every step of the way.
"You know, you could have arranged for a couple of four wheelers to take us to the damn things nest when you got the GPS tracker." Dean told Sam, "I still can't believe you actually found one in this town. How did you manage that?"
Sam looked back at Dean and smiled, "I stole it."
Dean laughed, "Next thing you know Sammy you'll be committing a bit of credit card fraud too!"
Sam was pushing a branch out of his way looked back at Dean and said, "It's Sam". When Dean just laughed at him he released the branch letting it smack Dean in the forehead. Then it was Sam's turn to laugh.
"Ow!" Dean yelled jumping back, "What the hell'd you do that for!"
"Do what?" Sam asked feinting ignorance.
After grumbling under his breath Dean asked, "Where in this tiny berg did you even find someone to steal a GPS Tracking system from?"
Sam hesitated, he knew Dean wasn't going to appreciate the answer, but he couldn't lie to him. Dean would see right through it if he did because even Sam knew he was a terrible liar. So, he shrugged his shoulder and told Dean the truth, "The Sheriff's Office."
Dean stopped in his tracks and glared at his baby brother. "The Sheriff's office," he asked angrily. Dean didn't know whether to be pissed that Sam had even tried it, or proud that he'd actually done it without getting caught. He had to hurry to catch up to Sam who hadn't stopped hiking, "What did you do, call in a fake 911?"
"Yep, after that it was easy. I picked the lock to get in and then it was just a matter of searching until I found it. It was close though, I had to sneak out the back while they were coming in the front." Sam had continued to hike as he was talking, but he stopped and looked back at Dean, "It was kind of fun." He told Dean, "When we're done can we put it back?"
Dean just laughed. Some of the changes in Sammy were good. Dean liked seeing Sam smiling more.
After another hour of hiking the brothers were finally getting close to their goal, which was good because soon the sun would be rising. When it did the Thunderbird may decide to leave its nest in search of another meal. Especially since it was deprived of the one it wanted yesterday.
Fifteen more minutes and Sam stopped "Where here," he told Dean.
Dean looked around. They were standing near the face of a cliff. He couldn't see the top of the cliff in the darkness. The forest grew right to the edge of the cliff making it difficult to see if there were any ledges or caves. "Where is it?" he asked.
Sam looked at the GPS then pointed up the cliff, "About 40 feet straight up," he told his older brother.
"Great!" Dean said, "Now comes the fun part."
Sam was pulling a couple of bottles of water and some power bars out of the duffle bag he'd been carrying. "I vote we take a break before we do this."
"Yea, but a quick one, the sun's coming up. In your premonition how early was it when the Thunderbird took the little girl?" Dean asked Sam.
Sam closed his eyes for a minute trying to remember, "Pretty early, I'd say around eight. It looked like they'd just gotten to the park. Hardly anyone else was there."
Dean had been looking up at the cliff face as he ate his power bar, "I think we'll be able to free climb it. There looks to be plenty of hand and foot hold. Check it out, there are even trees growing out of the side of the cliff."
"Alright, who goes first?" Sam asked
"I do. That way you can catch me if I fall," Dean said as he once again slung the rifle over his shoulder. He dug through the duffle Sam had been carrying and pulled out the .45 checked it to make sure it was loaded with silver bullets slipped it into its customary place in the small of his back.
"You better not fall. I don't want you knocking me off, and I have no interest in carrying your sorry butt down this mountain." Sam told him.
They started to climb and were making good progress. The Sun was rising making it much easier to find hand and foot holds, but they were running out of time. To make matters worse, Dean was getting tired and he knew that if he was starting to feel the burn, then Sammy had to be feeling it more. They were definitely going to need some R & R after this gig.
"Hey Sam do you still have Rebecca's number?" Dean asked Sam as he reached for the next hand hold, "Because I was thinking, after we waste this thing we could take some time off. Maybe have some fun."
"Yea, after about two days of nothing but sleep!" Sam told him. "You know, she did say she had a friend for you too. Said she was ugly as a dog, but I told her you wouldn't…." Sam quit mid sentence as he lost his footing and had to make a grab for rock jutting out of the cliff before he fell.
"SAM!" Dean cried as he heard, more than saw his brother slip.
"Its okay just lost my footing." Sam told him with a sigh of relief. He looked down; they were a good 30 feet up. The drop may not have killed him, but it wouldn't have been pleasant.
"It serves you right for trying to set me up with an ugly woman!" Dean told him while silently thanking the gods that be.
Then, before Sam could reply, a dark shadow passed quickly overhead, and they heard the scream of the Thunderbird as it left its nest.
