Hi! Don't suppose there's any fanfic folk based in Galloway
reading this is there? Drop me a PM if by some miracle there is :)
Also, I ask you to keep the lovely ncsupnatfan, who's currently
recovering from a very nasty accident, in your thoughts
Chapter 18
-oOo-

"How's the ham doin'?"
Sam shrugged.
"I'd say it's way beyond well done, I think the cracklin's morphed into plate armour. Help yourself, but accept you're gonna lose teeth."
Dean sighed.
"You know, I'm thinkin' maybe us spendin' the night just sittin' around waitin' for some action is endin' up a bust."
Sam gazed at his brother's profile.
"You suggestin' we quit for the night?"
"Not exactly. I'm suggestin' we kill the fire, head back to the car an' go into town, have a cruise round. If we set off soon I figure we'd hit town with a good hour at least before dawn breaks. How about it?"
Sam stood up and used both hands to rub some feeling back into his numb backside.
"Sure. Why not? You get the fire, I'll grab Phil's stuff."

The creature continued to watch while the short haired man chose a patch of wet, muddy soil and dug into it, loading his spade, returning to the fire and dumping the soil over the fire. Three loads had the fire smothered and out. The human lifted the branch skewering their meat by one end. After eyeing the blackened food carefully, he shrugged and tossed it, still skewered, away into the undergrowth. The longer haired human gave a short laugh.
"Seriously? You were considerin' it?"
"No, no way...C'mon, let's go make sure my baby's still ok.."

The werewolf remained where it was and watched the two humans walk out of the glade. The fresh scent of them grew fainter the further away from the area they moved, until all that was left were the older trace scents that clung to the parts of the area that they had walked on or touched, the log they had sat on, and the tent. Standing upright, the werewolf emerged out of the shadows and wandered into the centre of the glade. Puzzled by the behaviour of the humans, it's brow furrowed as it gazed around their camping area, seeing nothing other than the dead fire and the spade. The creature moved to the tent and dropped back onto all fours before sticking it's head inside. The scent of both humans was stronger in there and there were two sleeping bags spread on the groundsheet; lying on one of the bags was a couple of folded towels and a battery lamp. It was the things that weren't in the tent that served to increase the werewolf's curiosity, primarily the lack of any food supplies or water. It looked like the tent and it's meagre contents had simply been abandoned by the two men.

Backing out of the tent, the werewolf wandered across the clearing, following the smell of the abandoned roast. Finding the charred offering, it prodded at it before abandoning it with a grunt of destain. The beast scanned the clearing again and the creature gave a low grumbling growl, the result of a flickering sense of disquiet in response to the humans' odd behaviour. Hyper-sensitive hearing picked up on the beginnings of a slow and subtle alteration within the sounds of the forest as the first of it's nocturnal life, the slower movers and the wildlife that roamed furthest during the dark hours, gradually began making their way back to whatever nests, burrows, mounds, tunnels, cavities and crevices they used as their retreat during daylight. At the same time, those hunters and scavengers who were generally the first to become active during the day had begun to grow more restless in their sleep as their inner body clocks began to anticipate the onset of dawn. As dark became light the clear, sharp, scents of the night would begin to gradually soften, turning into the more muted and varied warm scents of the day. Remaining on all fours the werewolf left the clearing and turned towards home, setting off at a trot to meet up with it's companion before dawn broke..

The Hunters travelled towards the township in silence, both appreciating the warmth inside the Impala. As they drew closer, Sam finally voiced the concern uppermost in both their minds.
"Dean, what if there's been an attack in town while we've both been sat in the forest?"
"I've been thinkin' pretty much the same thing. We know most of the recorded killings happened either in the forest or at the forest edge but, what if I chose wrong last night? An' then, because of that bad choice, somebody in town who we might've saved ended up bein' killed? All because of my crappy decision."
"Woah Dean! Don't you dare go there. If anyone has been killed in town, you won't own that. It'll be on both of us."
"Whatever... Let's just hope we weren't soakin' our backsides at the wrong place an' at the wrong time."

The black car cruised steadily through the outskirts of Grantsville, passing neat little houses, many in darkness, some showing a low level glow suggestive of night lights while others opted instead to leave an internal light on through the night, commonly either the bathroom or hallway. The car slowed almost to a halt, waiting while a white cat strolled unhurriedly across the road ahead of them. As it meandered past, the cat paused briefly, casting a disdainful glance at the Impala. Sam watched the cat wander a yard or so along the side-walk before it casually and gracefully hopped over a section of fence and vanished into somebody's back yard.
"Well, if there's somethin' big an' fugly round here, I'd expect our Mr Cool Cat to be actin' way more antsy an' pilin' on the speed."
"Fine, I'll cut straight through to the town centre."

As the Impala went past an intersection, the lights on one of the darkened vehicles parked on the street fed by the intersection flicked into life, and the car began to move. Coming to the junction, it turned to follow the same direction the black muscle car had taken, adjusting it's speed to catch up with the Impala. The reflection of headlights and the repeated flashing of a red light drew Dean's attention to the rear view mirror. He slowed down further and began to pull into the roadside.
"Company."
The marked police car also pulled in, parking up behind the Impala. While the cop climbed out of his vehicle and strolled towards the drivers side of the Impala, Dean was already retrieving the fake ID he was currently using out from the glove compartment and winding down his window.

"You're out and about early sir...Sirs. Can I see some paperwork?"
The man looked across Dean to Sam.
"I'll need to see some ID from you too sir."
Wearing a friendly smile, Dean flipped open and held up the FBI badge.
"Is one of my lights out or something officer?"
The cop read the name on the badge.
"Ahh, Agent Foley! My apologies sir. The Sheriff did tell us you were in town helping to investigate our serial killer. And your companion is...?
Sam leaned forward and reached across Dean, offering his hand to the cop, who duly shook it politely.
"My name's Sam, Sam Halen, I'm just civilian, I'm here at Agent Foley's invitation."

Dean stepped in, wanting to distract the cop away from pressing for some ID from Sam.
"Actually, Sam's a friend of mine an' he's somethin' of an expert tracker. I thought his skills might come in useful. So, how about an update? Have you guys had any action at all through the night?"
The officer gave a small smile.
"Thankfully, no Sir. We've got officers sited a various points throughout the town and, so far, it's all quiet."
Dean nodded his understanding.
"Let's hope it stays that way then an' that nothing happens between now and sunrise, eh?"
"How about you and your friend, Agent? Found out anything new we can add to the investigation?"
"Sorry my friend. I never like to give anythin' away unless I'm absolutely sure of my intel, don't like to let folk down if things don't pan out, you know? Tell you what though, you could let the Sheriff know there's somethin' interestin' that I'm gonna be followin' up on tonight. If it comes to anythin'? I'll contact her first light tomorrow morning."
The officer grinned, satisfied that he had information that his colleagues didn't.
"I'll be sure and tell the Sheriff that for you sir. I'll radio your plate number to the other cars as well, then you won't keep on getting stopped Sir."
Dean gave the man a broad smile.
"That's real thoughtful of you officer, I appreciate it. You take care now an', stay safe."
"You too. Both of you."

Sam slumped back in his seat, relieved not to have had to try to produce some none existent ID, then just as quickly he sat upright again, asking his brother anxiously,
"What if any of them decide to get nosey an' run a check on the plates? Are they gonna find anythin'?"
"You mean other than it's not registered to either an Agent Foley or a Sam Halen? Nope, nothin', includin' no report of Baby bein' stolen, obviously. Don't worry Sammy. If one of 'em does get concerned about the car not bein' registered to Agent Foley it's simple. I say it's a pool car an' they can confirm it with my boss, then I give 'em Jody's number an' we just make certain one of us talks to her before they do. Ok?"
"Yeah, ok, great."

-oOo-
Chick :D xxx
Next chapter coming straight up