A/N: i'm back, sorry for the wait, i was busy at work. i want to again thank everyone for the reviews. i didnt get quite as many as last time, i hope you all arent loosing interest. so here it is, chapter six hope you all like it
SHADOW STALKER
Chapter 6
Sam continued into the dark night, his long strides carrying him quickly down the road. He continued to sweep the flashlight back and forth across the highway, his brown eyes scanning the shadows, trying to see past their oblivion. The wind had begun to lessen as he walked and the sounds of the night had once again grown still. He had been looking for Dean for about three hours at that point, his search still turning up no trace of his brother. 'Come on, a person cant just disappear into thin air.' Sam knew that he needed to find a safe way down the mountain, but in the darkness he couldn't see all the way to the bottom of the escarpment. He didn't know if he would only make it to a certain point and then have to turn back, and he knew he couldn't waste that kind of energy. Dean was out there somewhere and Sam knew that something was very wrong. He needed to save all his energy for his brother.
Dean had been there for him so many times, had always hidden his pain away, was always strong for him, and Sam desperately needed to return that favor. After what the Demon had said to them Sam found himself trying to show Dean just how important he really was. But then, he would pull something like he did earlier, let Dean push him until he did something stupid. He had thrown one of his brother's prized cassette tapes out the window of a moving car, then forced said brother to go out and get it himself without even bothering to give him a light. 'Great way of showing your love, Sam.' He shook his head and kicked at the rocks along the ground. Why did Dean always have to make everything so difficult. Why couldn't he just be a normal brother.
But then, what was normal in the Winchester's lives. 'Dean was,' Sam smiled to himself. Dean was the normalcy that held the family together. He was the constant. Sam knew that he could always count on him, and that their father could always count on him. When something was wrong, when something was hard, when someone was missing or in danger, Dean would always be there. You never needed to ask, just look around and he would come to the rescue, guns blazing. And that simple fact was the most normal part of all of Sam's life. Even when he was at school, the mere idea of Dean would always put his heart and soul to rest, would always make him feel just a little more sane. But ever since his brother took him from school that Halloween night, the very foundation of Sam's life had begun to crumble. The longer he was on the road the more he came to realize that his brother, his one constant, had become a stranger to him. He never thought about Dean's fears until St. Louis, but ever since then he could see what it was he had been missing.
Dean was a mess, lost in the unpredictability of their lives. Dean was Sam's constant, but what was Dean's? It unnerved Sam to no end, and after the encounter with the Demon, his world had begun to crumble at an alarming rate. Dean had nearly died that night, and Sam understood then, that without him there would be no Winchesters. He and his father would not continue to hunt together without Dean, that Sam knew for sure. So, he made a promise to his unconsciousness brother all those months ago; he would not take him for granted anymore. He would show his brother just how much he needed him, how much he cared. Unfortunately, that was easier said then done.
Sam was brought back to reality by a sharp sound in the woods to his left. He quickly turned in the direction of the noise, shining his light into the shadows between the trees. Nothing. All he could see were the shadows dancing just at the edge of sight, misting in and out before his eyes, dulling his mind with an eerie confusion. He heard another twig snap a few feet down the road, his eyes still scanning for the culprit. But again, there was nothing. Sam took one more long look into the forest, then turned his light back on to the road and continued his slow progress along the edge of the cliff, looking for someway down the side. He stole another glance at his watch, '6.30 am, it should be light soon.' Sam knew that his search would go much better in the daylight.
He had walked about another hundred meters when he felt the winds around him begin to increase once more. He turned up the collar of his jacket, trying in vain to shield himself from the cold, but the winds just kept blowing, pushing against him from all directions. He could hear a distant laugher ringing in his ears, as though the winds had carried it from miles away. But it wasn't just the laugher he was hearing; there were, mixed in with the wind, thousands of different sounds. Crying, yelling, laughing, moaning, cursing, singing, wailing. And with these countless sounds came a rush of raw, pure emotion. So strong that it knocked the air out of Sam's lungs. Pain, anger, love, mistrust, fear, hatred, hope, they all bombarded his brain, strained his senses. He fell to his knees in the soft grass beneath him, perched precariously on the edge of the drop. He held his arms tightly over his ears, willing the sounds and emotions to stop. His mind swam with all the turmoil, his head feeling like it would split in two.
"STOP!" He screamed into the night, hunching far over his knees, pushing his forehead to the cool ground, trying to make the pain cease. "STOP IT. PLEASE!" But the pain just increased tenfold, forcing the young hunter all the way to the ground. Sam laid there, curled into a fetal position, tears streaming unbidden down his face. The pain was more then he could bear, it was far worse then anything he had endured during one of his visions. He could feel the blood pouring from his nose as the emotions around him increased again. Lust, greed, revenge, denial, wrath. And he screamed, screamed out for the pain it was causing him.
He could feel the anger, feel the fear, the lust, the hate. He could feel them all, tearing into his body in rapid succession, burrowing deep into his soul. "Dean." Sam all but whispered as the pain ran through him once more. "Please make it stop." He could feel himself slipping way, drowning beneath the waves of emotions. They were killing him, draining him, and driving him crazy. The only thought in his mind was that he had to get away, had to make them stop. His body went into a sort of autopilot, his mind too drained by the attack to protest his movements. He could feel himself climbing to his hand and knees, crawling towards the edge of the cliff.
"Make it stop, please. Oh god, I just have to make it stop." He whispered as he moved closer to the edge, his mind barely registering what was about to happen. He could feel the grass beneath him begin to slide as his body pitched dangerously into the nigh, half in the air, half on solid ground.
"SAMMY!" Sam heard his name screamed into the night. Someone was calling him. Or was it just the wind, reeking havoc with his already tired mind, his body still slipping slowly over the edge. "Get the hell away from my son!" Sam heard the gruff voice continue, his hazy mind still trying to hold onto the night. He vaguely registered a strange feeling, almost like it was raining, before an ear splitting screech echoed through the night.
And then, in one instant, Sam's mind cleared completely, just as his body finally tipped over the cliff. "Dad!" Sam called as he grabbed maniacally for something to hold onto as he went over the side. His hands found a large root as he pitched forward, and holding on with all the strength he could Sam swung down over the side, hanging dangerously over the sloping ground.
John watched in horror as he saw his youngest son disappear over the edge of the cliff, his tall body sliding away into the star less night. "Sam." He raced forward to try and catch his feet but missed my mere inches. "Sammy!"
"I'm here." He heard his son answer, and let out a long calming breath. He then shined a small flashlight down, and saw Sam hanging from a root about four feet below him.
"Do you think you can reach me?"
"Yeah, I think so." Sam pushed his feet into the rocks and pulled himself up as far as he could, easily reaching his father's outstretched arm. He then felt himself being pulled up to safety, his mind still reeling from the recent attack.
"Are you ok?" John asked, as soon as Sam was safely away from the edge.
"Yeah, I'm ok."
"Your bleeding."
"Just my nose, nothing major. What did you do?"
"One of the shadows, it was wrapped around you, I sprayed it with holy water. I heard you screaming down the road, and when I got here you were trying to jump off the cliff. What the hell were you thinking?" He asked, holding his son tightly by the shoulders, afraid that if he let him go he would fall again.
"I wasn't really thinking at all. Dad, it hurt so much, I just wanted it to stop, I didn't know I was on the edge until I fell over." Sam answered, shrugging out of his fathers tight grasp.
"What do you mean it hurt?" John asked as he pulled his youngest son to his feet, immediately surveying him for the source of the pain. "I don't see any wounds, Sammy."
"It was more mental. It just kept bombarding me with all these emotions. I could feel everyone one of them. My head felt like it was going to explode. Thank god you were here. Wait, where'd you come from?" Sam pulled back, surveying his father. In all the commotion he failed to realize that his father should not have been there.
"You two never showed up in Seattle."
"Yeah, but how the hell did you find us way out here?"
"I had you tailed from the last job. I knew you were last seen in Ellensburg so I went there to pick up the trail. And this seemed like a Dean kind of short cut."
"You had us tailed? Do you not trust us or something?"
"No, Sam. It's just that I wanted to know you two were safe."
"Is that a new thing?"
"Honestly, no. You think I would let you or Dean hunt alone without someone watching your backs. It's not that I don't have faith in your abilities." He added quickly, seeing the indignant look on his son's face. "I just, I feel better knowing where you are."
"Does Dean know you have people follow him all over?" Sam asked. He didn't know what emotion to feel at that point. Part of him was angry that his father had them tailed without their knowledge. Part of him was embarrassed for not realizing earlier. And another part of him felt glad, and safe. For so long he thought his father had abandoned them, but now he realized just how close he had really been, and it was comforting.
"What do you think." John smiled, Dean would not be happy about it at all. "Where is your brother?" In all the drama of finding Sam, John had failed to notice that Dean was missing. He had just blended into the back ground a little too much lately, and he had become somewhat easy to miss. Sam looked quickly down at the ground and began to push the rocks around with his feet, a motion not unnoticed by his father.
"Sam, where's your brother." But Sam continued to stare at the ground. "Sam, answer me, that's an order." John took a deep breath and began to prepare himself for another argument with his son. Sam could always find some flaw in the way he ran things, in the way he treated both him and his older brother. He knew he had made mistakes, and if he could he would turn the world upside down to fix them. He didn't want this life for his children, and he hated himself for all the pain he had caused them. But the last thing he needed was to listen to Sam pick apart every aspect of his life, belittle every path he had chosen. However, when his son finally raised his head he was caught completely off guard. Instead if seeing brown eyes rimmed with anger, he saw brown eyes rimmed with tears as his son took in a ragged breath. 'Oh god, where was Dean.'
"Sam."
"I don't know, Dad. I've been looking for three hours, but I don't know. I'm sorry."
"When did you last see him? Where was he?" John immediately went into hunter mode, asking all the pertinent questions while scanning the area around him. He looked over to his youngest and saw that his head was bowed yet again, eyes fixed on the road.
"I'm so sorry, Dad. I don't know how I could do it. He's always there for me." He then looked up, eyes shining with unshed tears. "How could I let him down."
"Sammy please, where is he?"
"We were fighting, I threw one of his cassette tapes out the window. He went to get it, that was the last time I saw him."
"When?"
"Twenty six hours ago."
"What! You just said you were only looking for the past three. What the hell were you doing for the other twenty three hours?"
"I fell asleep. Dad, I didn't mean to. Something must have done it to me."
"You slept for twenty three hours while god knows what happened to your brother." John answered angrily. He had taught his boys so much and this was how they acted.
"I'm sorry."
"Did he having anything with him other then a flashlight?"
"He didn't have one."
"He didn't have a light?"
"He stormed off, I didn't think he was going that far, I didn't think he needed one."
John took a long calming breath before he continued, his anger raising. "How could you be so irresponsible?"
"Dad, we had a fight he was driving me crazy. I didn't know this would happen." Sam answered angrily, looking up at his father.
"Didn't know. Sam, you sent your brother out into the woods in the middle of the night without any protection, without even a light, because you were mad. Son, you know what's out there, you know what can be hiding in the dark."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry isn't enough, Sam. After everything your brother's done for you this is how you repay him."
"Don't you dare throw that back in my face. Don't you think I know what he's done for me. Don't you think I care. It was a mistake, Dad. You think I haven't been beating myself up for the last three hours. I've been going out of my mind, ever scenario going from bad to worse. I don't know what I'll do if I cant find him." Sam took another long ragged breath as he turned from his father, fear evident in his voice. Over the past hour he had been thinking non stop. What if he never found Dean? How would he tell his father. Hell, forget his father, how would live with himself if he never found him. He knew without a doubt that all this was his fault. He should never have pushed his brother like that. He should have used his common sense, been alert, been ready.
Over the past six months he had lived by the mantra 'better safe then sorry,' and then when it really mattered he had screwed up. Again. And now his brother was paying the price. After what the Demon had told him, Sam had sworn to himself to be a better hunter, to always be prepared, to be more like his father. He knew now that the Demon was after him specifically, and that it would not stop until one of them was dead. And he was determined that it would not be him. But with his new found vengeance also came a new fear. The Demon had killed his mother and girlfriend because they were in the way, they were protecting him. And now something else stood between him and the Demon, his brother Dean, and he would be damned if he was going to loose someone else to that son of a bitch.
"I should have been protecting him, I should have been watching out for him. I screwed up, Dad. I'm sorry."
"It's ok, Son. I know you didn't mean any harm. It's just, I cant loose anyone else. I just cant."
"I know, me either."
"How much do you have in that back pack?"
"Not much, we probably need more. How far is your truck."
"It's missing. I left Joshua with it when I checked the impala, and when I turned back around it was gone."
"Joshua?"
"He's the one that was tailing you. I didn't even hear him drive off, I searched the entire area, I even tried calling him but still noting. We took the history of these woods, Sammy, and it doesn't look good. I have no idea what could have happened, but then I found your tracks so I followed. Then I hear you screaming."
"Wait, you found the impala?"
"I didn't know it was missing."
"When Dean didn't come back I got out and looked for him, I thought maybe he fell over the edge, but when I turned around the car was gone. It couldn't have been more then one hundred meters away, Dad, and I didn't hear anything. It was just gone."
"Well it's up here on the shoulder, about two miles."
"Something's going on here, Dad."
"I know, but right now lets just get to the car, then find your brother. We can come back and deal with this place another time."
"What about Joshua?"
"Lets just hope he managed to get himself out somehow. But if not, we'll look for him after we help your brother."
"All right."
They walked on quietly, both men lost in thought. John was worried sick about his oldest son, he had been missing and alone for over twenty four hours, twenty four hours Sam had somehow slept through. He knew it wasn't the young man's fault, there was no way he would willing sleep for that long. Something out there wanted them separated. And he knew, deep inside, that Dean had somehow gone over the edge of the escarpment, and he only hoped that he had made it through the fall. What really had him worried was the fact that it had been so long. He knew that Dean had no supplies and almost no weapons. If the fall was bad, then the last twenty six hours were brutal. He silently quickened his pace. He had to get to Dean, sooner rather then later.
About twenty minutes later the two hunters rounded a corner, a few hundred meters from where John had last seen the classic car. But, to his horror, there was nothing there, only darkness and shadows, even the weak light of the coming sunrise didn't reveal the missing car.
"Damn it. What the hell is going on."
"We should have guessed really."
"Yeah, I figured that now, since I don't see the car."
"Sorry. Did you get any supplies out before you found me?"
"Three guns, a knife, some holy water, and of few rosaries."
"Damn it."
"We can defend ourselves."
"That's not what I'm worried about. We only have a little bit of water and even less food. The shadows don't need to kill us, we'll starve first."
"Damn it." John echoed his son's response. "We'll think of something."
"Yeah." Sam answered quietly, staring down the road into the coming dawn, the pale light a welcome sight. "Hey, Dad."
"Yeah, Sam?"
"Your rescue leaves a lot to be desired."
"Yeah well, I wasn't finished working on my plan."
"Uh huh."
"Who knew we would manage to loose both cars and Dean."
"I know, I thought we were supposed to be the best."
"Lets just not mention this one to anyone else."
"Deal." They then walked together down the highway, and finding a safe path, began to make their way down the side of the hill, oblivious to the shadowy gray eyes staring down from overhead
TBC