Chapter 4

Dean sat up just in time to see the wolf scurry out of the room, leaving footprints of blood on the shaggy carpet. Immediately forgetting the animal, he spun around to find Sam on the floor against the bed.

Bleeding, not moving.

In one movement, he was by his brother's side.

"Sammy, come on. Wake up for me buddy. Please wake up…" he pleaded, patting Sam's pale cheek. He swore; bent to check his brother's breathing. It was coming out weak and shallow and a wet gurgle was surfacing. Dean could see that Sam was really struggling to draw breath. Sliding one hand underneath Sam's neck and he other under his bother's mashed shoulder, Dean lifted Sam lightly so his upper body was leaning against his own chest. Reaching over to the bedside table, he retrieved his cell phone and dialled the number for an ambulance.

When the calm voice on the other end of the phone had reassured him three times the ambulance was on its way, he hung up and tried to wake his brother again.

Dean whispered to him; finally losing his patience when Sam didn't stir. Don't you do this to me…he thought angrily. He could feel the unwelcome tingling sensation beginning at the corner of his eyes, and he gritted his teeth against the tears.

"SAM!' he yelled loudly close to his brother's ear. "WAKE UP NOW, THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Using one of his father's patented lines made Dean feel briefly guilty, but all sympathy fled as Sam twitched and opened his eyes slowly, groaning.

"Oh thank god. I thought I'd never get you." Dean sighed, squeezing Sam's uninjured arm.

"Well thank god you woke up…" Sam wheezed sarcastically, shuddering in pain.

"Hey, I was having a great damn dream. If it wasn't for you getting attacked by a wolf, then I'd still be having it."

Sam ignored Dean's complaints. "So it was a wolf then?" He asked his older brother.

"Oh no, Sammy. That was the Easter bunny that just tried to tear your arm off."

"Yeah, yeah ok. How bad's my shoulder?"

"Er, you're gunna be fine. The ambulance is on its way."

"How bad is it?" Sam repeated through clenched teeth, his breath hissing as he drew air. He tried to turn his head to look down at his shoulder, but Dean's hand was on the side of his face, pushing his head back around.

"Don't look at it, alright? It'll be fine." Dean's weak attempt at a reassurance made Sam nervous, and he would have tried to look again if not for his stomach suddenly twisting.

"Dean… I don't feel too good, man." He could feel his throat tightening as he fought to keep down his dinner.

"I know, Sammy, you're losing a bit of blood up here." To Dean that was an understatement—the front of his brother's shredded shirt was totally soaked.

"No, Dean, it's not that…my stomach..."

Catching on, Dean swore.

"Well if you're gunna be sick, don't get it on –"

He was cut short as his brother jerked forward off his chest, the vomit splattering inches from Dean's knee. Caught off guard by his brother's sudden movements, he reached forward and supported Sam around the chest, despite the fact that there was also blood flowing from the deep claw marks on Sam's upper body.

"I gotcha Sam, I'm right here." He grunted; struggling to hold Sam upright. Dean continued to support his brother as best he could while he caught his breath.

"You all right now?" he asked a minute or so later when Sam's breathing had slowed down.

"My arm…" Sam groaned in pain.

"Alright, alright. Lean back… there we go. I'll getcha up on the bed."

Dean held Sam in his arm, supporting his injured limb with his hand while holding his brother's long legs with the other arm.

"Jesus! Obviously being tall and skinny doesn't make you light." Dean grunted as he struggled to get off his knees.

"Shut up, wimp." Was the only insult Sam could muster before crying out in agony as Dean lurched up onto his feet.

For a minute he must have blacked out due to the pain, because the next thing Sam knew; he was lying on the bed hearing Dean yell into the phone.

"…yeah? Well it better be here in the next minute or I swear…" He heard Dean slam the hotel phone down and growl in anger.

"Sam? You okay? The ambulance is almost here, buddy."

'Mmmm… I'm fine.' The response from the bed was weak.

"No, you're not fine, man. And I paid for that dinner!"

"You are hopeless." Sam sighed. "I'm sorry I needed to vomit." He muttered sarcastically. "S'not like I could help it."

"Yeah, yeah…You're just lucky we weren't in the car, or I'd kill you."

"Whatever." Sam rolled his eyes.

They sat in heavy silence for a moment, in which time Dean took the opportunity to wrap Sam's shoulder more effectively and Sam took the opportunity to count the spots of mould on the ceiling.

Dean sat on the bed and patted Sam's leg.

"You'll be fine, I promise." he reassured his brother.

Suddenly there was a soft knock at the door. The two young men looked across the room to the door. It was still slightly open where the wolf had got out.

"That can't be the ambulance, I didn't hear any sirens." Dean muttered.

He crossed the small room in a couple of steps and opened the door to see a young girl looking nervously in their window.

She jumped as he swung the door open and took a few steps back.

"Oh, hi. I just heard a bit of a commotion going on and I wondered if everything was okay…"

Shutting the door slightly so she couldn't see past his shoulder, Dean smiled tightly and considered his answer.

"Yeah, we're all fine in here. A wild dog got in and my baby brother just panicked a bit."

There was an audible snort from inside the room.

"You're sure?" the young woman said, rocking backwards on her heels, her neck stretching to see over Dean's shoulders.

"I swear I heard a gunshot. Nobody's hurt, are they? Because I took a medical course in college before I dropped out and started travelling, so maybe I could help you out a bit. I'm not stupid; I did notice the blood on the carpet. See? Right there, under your feet. Have you called an ambulance yet? If you haven't, maybe you should at least call someone to take care of the animal situation. There was a rat in our room last week. I killed it though. Smashed it with a rolling pin. I gotta say, it was hard to clean up…GUTS EVERYWHERE! You know what I mean?"

She paused to take a breath.

Dean was standing in the doorway, eyebrows raised at the woman in front of him. Honestly, he had never heard anyone say so much in such a short amount of time. Even Sam hadn't spoken that much as a child and BOY had that kid liked to talk.

Dean winced slightly as she opened her mouth to start another speech, and was utterly relieved to hear the sound of the ambulance pulling into the parking lot.

Forgetting the woman altogether, he pushed past and ran down the steps to the van.

"Hey, my brother's in the room just up there." He waved to the ambulance officer, motioning behind him to the rooms.

Not waiting for a reply, he turned and ran back up the steps to his room, noticing that the bizarre lady had vanished. Thank god for that… he thought as he reached the door.

Entering the room, Dean stopping abruptly as a shadow slid out from behind the door, moving towards his brother who lay helplessly on the bed.