Chapter 3:
The sun finally rose. Sam had thought the darkness would never disappear. He had spent the last hours keeping watch over the woods and his brother. Suddenly his thoughts flashed back to Chicago. He wished so desperately he wouldn't have said those things to Dean when they were preparing for the fight. He saw the pain in his brother's eyes, and he didn't miss the catch in his voice. Dean had tried hard to keep it together. But Sam had once again sucker punched him with his words. And now here they were. And his brother could have died. He had to apologize. He had to make sure his brother knew he didn't want to leave him, just hunting.
With the light Sam stood and began packing their gear. Dean finally began to stir. "Dean?" Sam said softly kneeling next to him.
"I'm up." He said, squinting his eyes and slowly rising.
"Take it easy. Don't try to get up too fast."
"I'm fine Sam." Dean looked up at him. "Was I out all night?"
"Yeah."
Dean nodded his head and mumbled something Sam couldn't make out. "All right. Let's get the show on the road."
"Dean, you sure? We can always come back." Sam urged.
"Don't start this again Sammy. Let's just get the job done. I ain't dyin'."
Sam nodded in agreement. "The cabin should be that way about a half hour."
They started off. Dean felt a little shaky, but hell, he wasn't dyin'. And at least the feeling of pain reminded him to stay alert. This time though he stayed close to his brother, who had purposely slowed his stride. Dean was going to make sure nothing surprised them on this walk, and he was going to make sure Sam was safe in his sights. Half way through their hike Sam stopped and turned to Dean. He looked very upset.
"What's wrong Sam? Do you sense something?" Dean asked
He shook his head. "No. I need to say something to you and I need you to let me say all of it, and
finish."
Dean was puzzled. "Okay."
"About...about what I said in Chicago..."
"Come on Sam, not this again. It's cool, I get it."
"Dammit Dean I said let me finish! I just wanted you to know that just because I don't want to do this forever doesn't mean I want to leave you."
"Sam, I told you I get it. It's fine." Dean started to walk away.
Sam grabbed his arm forcefully. "Dammit Dean shut up and listen! It's not okay. I know you're mad at me and I hurt you. And I understand. But you gotta know that even if someday when I do go back, I don't ever want to go without seeing you for years again. Ever."
Dean sighed. "Sam, I'm not mad you. I told you I get it and I meant it. I could never be mad at you." He paused then asked, "What's this about?"
Sam cast his eyes to the ground and took his time answering. "You could have died last night Dean. And you would have died thinking I didn't want to be around you. I couldn't have lived with that."
Dean shook his head and resigned himself to giving his brother his 'chick flick' moment. He patted Sam on the head and smiled. "Sammy, I didn't die, I ain't gonna die any time soon, and I know that you don't want to leave me." He paused and flashed his best smile. " I'm the best brother in the world, you couldn't live without me." He laughed and walked on.
Sam smiled and mumbled to himself, "No Dean, I couldn't live without you."
They finally arrived at the cabin almost an hour later. Dean had slowed them down, and he knew it, but thank God Sam hadn't said anything. He just kept an eye on his brother, trying to be sneaky, as always. The boys were both surprised. The cabin looked perfectly normal. Like a nice normal person's little hideaway. No signs of evil or spooks anywhere. But to be safe each boy brought out their guns and they cautiously made their way to the door. It wasn't locked. When they entered they were hit with the smell of age and must and stale air. But the cabin itself was in good shape. There was still furniture and animal heads on the wall. "Looks pretty normal." Sam whispered to Dean. He nodded in agreement. "I'll go left you go right." Sam said. They searched all four rooms of the cabin and found nothing out of the ordinary. Not a symbol, a book, a dead body, anything.
"This is weird." Sam said.
"Yeah, just not in the way we're used to. This is normal weird." Dean replied. He was walking toward the hallway determined to make one more sweep of the place when he heard it. A hollow sound below his feet. "What the hell." He said as he bent and pushed a rug over. Underneath was a trap door. "Bingo. Here we go Sammy!" Bending over was making Dean dizzy but he didn't want Sam to see so he just quickly pulled the door open and stood back against the wall. "We need to let a little fresh air in first." He informed Sam, thinking that was a pretty good excuse as to why he wasn't going charging in. Sam wasn't fooled but he didn't let on. After a few minutes Dean turned on his flashlight. "Behind me Sam. Let's go see what we got."
Sam followed behind Dean as they slowly made thier way down. Halfway down Sam's hand found a light switch. When the light came on both boys froze in shock. In the unusually large room before them was a myriad of what could only be described as weapons and torture tables. There were chains on the walls, tables with straps, axes and pitchforks and metal spike hanging from the ceiling. Strange looking metal tools that looked very painful. Each of the three tables were stained with blood. So were some of the 'tools'. And in the back corner was a small alter with symbols, a bowl of blood and other satanic worshiping things.
"What the hell was this guy?" Dean asked aloud. "Talk about Hellraiser."
"Dean, are you sure the legend just talked about him wanting to scare away campers because of his love for the woods? Cause I think this is a little more than what we thought." Sam said, his eyes wide as he scanned the room. God, what had he done to people down here?
"I'm thinking the scenario has changed a bit Sammy. Maybe the whole woods thing was just a cover." Dean shook his head. "This is just freaky."
"Dean, how did you happen to find this particular place on the internet?" Dean stood still and silent, avoiding his brother's eyes. "Dean?" Sam's senses were picking up that his brother wasn't telling him the whole truth. "Dean, how did you find out about this place?"
Dean knew he couldn't keep the truth from his brother. Especially now. "Hey, I had every intention of just looking around the internet randomly. But...there was this e-mail from someone claiming to know Dad. They said that Dad had passed through here and they knew about us and thought we could help."
"Who was it from?" Sam asked.
"Don't know Sammy. And I can see that look in your eyes. It wasn't Dad. Not his usual MO." Dean looked around the room, remembered the past day, looked at Sam and said, "I'm sorry Sam. I think I may have gotten us into something bad here."
Before Sam could reply, the lights went out.
-TBC-
Thanks so much for the reviews everyone! I really appreciate it. I'm glad you all like this story. Hopefully it has enough action and angst for everyone! Have a great one!