A/N: ok, i am back again with chapter 4. this one is a little long, it kind of got away from me. i hope you all enjoy it. and i just want to say thank you again for all the reviews, they are wonderful.
i still have yet to aquire Sam, John, or Dean Winchester.
SHADOW STALKER
Chapter 4
John Winchester drove through the night, pushing down hard on the accelerator as he raced from Seattle to Ellensburg. He had left his motel shortly after the call from Joshua, his mind racing. The boys were gone, vanished, and it had been that way for twenty four hours. Their disappearance had been reported to the local police, but there was nothing they could do until the morning. John was told to stay put, just in case his boys turned up there, but that was not going to happen. He knew his sons were not just lost, there was no way they would wander through the woods for twenty four hours. At least, John thought, there was no way that Sam would wander through the woods for twenty four hours. Dean, on the other hand, he was not so sure. Ever since the demon Dean had seemed lost to him, a shell of the young man he had been. And though most people failed to notice, or chalked it up to stress, John knew that it was something much more. His eldest son had been through a lot, hell both of them had been, but they were strong, they were fighters. That was until about six months ago, when Dean all but shut down. The accident, and the events afterwards had sent a shock through all of them, but Dean seemed to have suffered the most. He just seemed a little more distant around his family, staying in the back ground when the three of them were together. He followed orders quickly and precisely, never questioning his father, and rarely taking his eyes off Sam. It was as though that little fire that made Dean so mesmerizing had gone out. He was there, almost the same as before, but still so different, a part of his charisma gone. And John didn't know how to fix him.
It wasn't just Dean though, Sam had changed too. He was stronger, more self reliant, and more game for a hunt. But that need for normalcy was gone from him, and that hurt his father to no end. He knew his sons deserved more then what they had been given, and he knew that, given the chance, they could be a great addition to any community. But now it seemed that both boys had abandoned that notion. Sam kept himself more guarded then he had before, staying close by his brother, while Dean just fulfilled his role of protector and soldier. John had been so afraid of loosing his sons, that it had taken him far to long to realize that he may already have. The boys he was searching for now were not the boys he left in Chicago almost a year ago, and that simple fact made John question his actions more then ever.
John mentally shook himself, and turned his attentions back to the task at hand. There was no way he would be able to help his sons emotionally if he never found them. He had been scanning the sides of the road while his truck sped through the darkness, looking for any signs of the impala, but there were none. It was about one thirty in the morning when he arrived in Ellensburg, the last place the boys had been seen. He pulled the truck up into the parking lot of the police station, the place buzzing with activity for such a late hour. There were groups of people scattered throughout the parking lot, as well as a number of ambulances and squad cars. To John it looked like they were planning some kind of siege. He wove his way through the chaos, catching fragments of conversations as he passed, his mind focusing on non of them. He needed to get into the police station, he needed to talk to someone in charge. He couldn't let him self be overwhelmed by the mess around him.
"Excuse me, sir." A young man in a forestry uniform called out to John as he walked toward the building. "Sir." The man tried again, noting the John was ignoring him. "Excuse me." He then grabbed the oldest Winchester by the arm. "If you are here to help with the search all the volunteers are meeting over there." He stated pointing to a large group of people, many looking as though they had never hiked in their lives. 'How are they going to help.' John thought bitterly.
"No, my boys are missing. I need to talk to the sheriff."
"Sam and Dean Miller? Are those your boys?"
John nodded, noting the alias used. It was the one all his contacts knew. It was used only when the authorities needed to be involved, and only then as a last resort. John preferred to go it alone, but when he had to call in professional help, there was no way they were going to know who is boys really were. He wouldn't put his sons in jeopardy like that, he wouldn't have them on the grid. Miller was a common enough name, and the fact that another Sam or Dean Miller had been sighted somewhere else could easily be explained away.
"Yes, those are my boys, do you have any news on them yet?"
"No, Mr. Miller, I'm sorry. All we have to go on so far is the statement their uncle gave us."
"Can I please speak to the person in charge?"
"Yes, Sir. Right this way." The young man led John through the police station and into a crowded back office. There were about fifteen people squeezed into the room, all pouring over maps, marking off grids, and relaying messages to their radios. In the middle of the room John saw Joshua sitting at a desk, talking with another middle aged man. "That's him over there, talking to the boys' uncle."
"Thank you."
"I want you to know, we are going to do everything we can to find them."
"Thank you."
"John." Joshua called, looking up at the gruff sound of his friend's voice. Joshua looked worse for wear, his blue eyes slightly dull, brown hair sticking out at odd angles from under his baseball cap. He also looked like he hadn't slept in days. 'Good,' John thought to himself. He should be stressed, it was his responsibility to look after them, make sure they got to Seattle. What had he been doing, how had he lost them, why had he stopped following after they left Ellensburg? Why had he just watched them drive into the woods? He didn't even know they were missing until John had called him.
"Sheriff Cadler, this is my brother-in-law, John Miller."
"Hello, I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances."
"Do you have any leads on my boys?" John asked after shaking the man's hand. This was no time for idle chit chat.
"Unfortunately no. I thought you were asked to stay in Seattle, in case the boys showed up."
"No offense, Sir, but I know my boys are missing, not lost. Their not just gonna show up in Seattle like nothing has happened."
"And how are you so sure."
"Because, my boys don't get lost, Sheriff. Something happened to them out there, and I want to know what. I'm not just gonna sit around on my ass and wait for the best."
"Excuse me, Mr. Miller, but so far there have been no signs of foul play." The Sheriff began, rising to meet John eye to eye, though the hunter still towered over him. "And as far as we know, they haven't had any accidents either. Now, while we are taking our search seriously, we are still not ruling out the fact that the boys are just lost, or goofing around somewhere."
"Goofing around, are you kidding me. Do you know my boys?" At this the Sheriff shook his head. "I didn't think so. They aren't just lost and they certainly aren't goofing around. When I tell them to be somewhere, they're there. And if they aren't that means something has happened to them."
"John." Joshua put a restraining arm on his friend's shoulder.
"No. I want my boys found, and if I have to take this into my own hands, then I will."
"Mr. Miller, we don't need three people lost up there in the woods. I advise you to stay here."
"They're my sons, my family. I'm not just going to sit around and wait for you all to get your act together."
"Mr. Miller."
"John, calm down. They are doing everything they can. Cut them a break."
"And you." John then turned his anger on Joshua, the real target of his wrath. "I thought you were supposed to be watching them. How the hell could you let this happen. What, you saw them drive off into the sunset and figured you job was over. You were supposed to know their route, know where they might stop. How could you just loose them like that?"
"Their adults, John, they had two hours left, how was I supposed to know they were going to get lost. I'm only human."
"I'm sorry, it's just. They're my boys, they don't just vanish. Joshua, something's wrong."
"I know."
"Look, Mr. Miller. We have a room waiting for you at the local motel, why don't you go back there and get cleaned up. Get some rest. The sun wont be up for another few hours, you are welcome to join the search with us then."
John took one more long look at Joshua before turning to the Sheriff, is gaze falling to the many maps on the table. 'God, there was a lot of ground to cover.' "Thank you." He nodded, then headed out the door.
John drove in silence to the motel, Joshua meeting him there. He knew the search parties would not be able to find the boys. Something had them, something supernatural, he could feel it deep down in his bones. They didn't just crash, or wander off, they were taken; and he would find them. He pulled up into the parking lot of the motel, his room situated in the far corner. He didn't even bother to unpack, just went into the room with his new journal and waited for Joshua to arrive. He needed a plan, and soon, he wasn't sure how long his boys would last. About thirty minutes late Joshua arrived, his arms loaded with books and maps of the area. John helped him lay the materials on the small motel room table, while his friend rifled through the books he had brought.
"There have been a few unexplained disappearances in the area over the years, but noting was ever really made of it. There is a lot of wilderness and many of the roads were built into the sides of cliffs. Apparently it is a dangerous area, and a missing person in not all that unusual."
"What the hell, people go missing on the face of the Earth and no one finds it unusual. What the hell is this world coming too."
"Unfortunately, it happens all the time."
"Not to my boys. What was the route you said Dean would have taken?"
Joshua leaned over the map and traced the route out with a read marker. "This would have been the best choice, its the safest road, plus the most used."
"Are there any shorter routes?"
"Yeah, plenty. A lot of these mountain parks have access roads all over, many of the lead between the highways. They are mainly used by park services and some of the locals, but I checked most of them too, and there was no sign of your sons." Joshua traced a few of the routes he had taken with a blue marker, the cool color linking the highways together in a spider web of ink.
"What do you mean most of them?"
"Well, a lot are abandoned, or closed. There's no reason why the boys would have taken them."
"Maybe they didn't know. If the roads are only used by locals and officials, then maybe Dean took one thinking it was open."
"Don't you think they would have turned around if that were the case?"
"Not if something prevented them."
"John, not everything in this world is the work of supernatural beings. You are just being paranoid."
"Joshua, my sons are missing. They are too good to just get lost, or drive over a cliff. There's something else going on here."
"Are you sure you are not just being paranoid?"
"Excuse me?"
"John, ever since the demon.." Joshua stopped short, seeing the look of abject anger on his friend's face. "All I'm saying is that there are a lot of people that are worried about you. You and your son's, your targets. We all know that, but that doesn't mean that everything that happens to you is the work of a demon."
"Something is wrong here, and I will get to the bottom of it with, or without your help."
"You know I'll help. But just give the search parties some credit too. Because, if this does turn out to be a normal accident, their our best chance."
"I know."
"So, what's your first move."
John had been studying the map over intensely during the conversation and had focused his attention on a specific road. It was small compared to the others on the map, barely even marked, but looked like a possible candidate. It snaked its way along a particularly deep escarpment along a valley in the Wenatchee National Forest, and would have let the boys out right the north of Seattle, just were John had asked. "What about this road?"
"Shadow Pine Highway?"
"Yeah, do you know it?"
"It was an old logging trail, but its been out of service for years. There's no way they would have taken that."
"Its not marked as being closed on the map. How far can you get until it become impassable?"
"The actual road ends about thirty five miles before Richmond Highlands, but it branches off all over. Its a hard road to follow."
"Why is it called Shadow Pine Highway?"
"Well, when it was being built a few of the workers went crazy, claimed the shadows up there were alive, stealing them from their tents as they slept. A few of the men even through themselves over the cliffs, just trying to get away from the darkness. Parts of the road were turned into hiking trails later, but even the locals stayed away. One witness said he saw a shadow come out of no where and swallow his friend whole. But he was later arrested for murder, his friend's body was found at the bottom of the cliff."
"And no one thought this was strange."
"Its a long, dark, winding road. It should never have been built, its dangerous."
"Then that's where we start looking."
"Why."
"Because, Joshua, with our luck that is exactly where they are."
About an hour later John drove silently down the road, on his way to Shadow Pine Highway, Joshua sitting quietly in the seat beside him. He seemed distracted to John and almost a little jumpy. Joshua was one of John's most trusted contacts, besides Caleb and Jim, and it was a position that he had earned. He had been on many hunts with John when the boys were younger and he had proven himself time and time again. So the fact that he was so jumpy had John a little on edge.
"What's wrong."
"Its this stretch of road, John. I did some more research while you were getting ready. Turns out not many people come back from here. And the ones that do, they were insane, driven mad by something. One man was so terrified that he jumped from the window of the hospital. Another, a twenty three year old girl when in, came back out four months later, hair white as snow, never said a word again. Are you sure your boys are down that road."
"They have to be, every other road is populated, someone would have seen them."
"I don't know about this."
"All we can do is be prepared. Any idea what is haunting this place."
"None, the only thing the witnesses said they saw were shadows, very dark shadows, that seemed almost alive."
"Lets just hope we can find the boys without having to deal with one of these shadows."
"That's a nice thought."
"I try." John then fell silent when he saw the turn off to Shadow Pine Highway. If he didn't know any better, he'd say the road looked like something out of a horror movie. The sign hung limply on the side of the pole wavering slightly in the breeze, while large pine tree hung over the entrance. And the darkness, the darkness was so complete that it unnerved even John. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he could feel a cold chill run the length of his body. This was definitely some place he did not want to be. 'Damn it, Dean, you can really pick 'um.' John turned down the road, watching the thick shadows dance across the road before him, hoping that his boys had the sense to turn around, he really didn't want to go that far along this road.
However, it seemed that no one was listening to his silent prayers at that moment, and after almost three hours of driving, he was still searching the desolate blacktop before him, looking for some sign of his boys. The shadows around seemed to encroach upon the highway, swirling and misting across the asphalt, making John swerve, he couldn't tell if they were shadows or animals crossing his path. Then, out of the darkness he saw it, a vision so terrifying, and relieving that he didn't know whether to exhale or hyperventilate. He could see it before him, as if emerging from a deep black cocoon, its chrome details sparkling like stars in the night, there, two hundred meters ahead, sat the impala.
John quickly pulled up beside he son's beloved car, already knowing that he would find it empty. He could feel it, deep in his bones, his sons were not there. As he ran over to the driver's side his suspicions were confirmed when he saw a wide array of candy wrappers and coffee cups, but no boys, the keys were also missing. 'So, they had gone somewhere willingly.' he though "But where?" He muttered aloud. He continued to study the impala, looking for any trace of his children, any sign telling which way they had gone. He hadn't noticed that Joshua was still in the truck, staring intently at John. He had also failed to notice the dark, soundless shadow that at formed behind him, encasing both him and the impala in darkness, invisible to the night. And he didn't hear the engine of his truck roar to life, or that last words of his friend as he backed into the night. "You should have just left it all alone, John. This is bigger then all of us." And with that the truck disappeared back down the highway, the growl of its engine drown out by the silence of the night. And once again the road was empty, save for the shadows.
TBC
until next time :)