May 22nd - May 24th, 2006

We stopped at a bar called Kugel's Keg in Hibbing, Minnesota. Sam had stumbled across an article about a man who mysteriously disappeared while a boy watched from his bedroom window. Sam and Dean talked to the boy and his mother earlier in the day. They found out that when Mr. Jenkins disappeared, the boy heard a loud whining growl, then he was pulled under his car and vanished.

Sam was drinking a beer and researching while Dean was playing darts. I sat next to Sam with a cheeseburger, fries, and iced tea. Every now and then, Dean would stop and steal food off of my plate, ignoring me slapping or pushing his hand away.

"So, local police have not ruled out foul play. Apparently, there were signs of a struggle," Sam read.

Dean stopped and turned around. "Well, they could be right, it could just be a kidnapping. Maybe this isn't our kind of gig."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, maybe not. Except for this... Dad marked the area, Dean." He flipped open Dad's journal and pointed it out to Dean. "Possible hunting grounds of a phantom attacker."

Dean walked over to look at the journal. "Why would he even do that?"

Sam sighed. "Well, he found a lot of local folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night. Grabs people, then vanishes. He found this too..." He tapped the page. "This county has more missing persons, per capita than anywhere else in the state."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "That is weird."

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"Don't phantom attackers usually snatch people from their beds? Jenkins was taken from a parking lot," Dean said, taking a sip of his beer.

Sam shrugged. "Well, there are all kinds. Ya know, Spring-heeled Jacks, phantom gassers. They take people anywhere, anytime... look, Dean, I don't know if this is our kind of gig either."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, you're right, we should ask around more tomorrow."

"Right." Sam pulled his wallet out. "I saw a motel about five miles back."

"Whoa, whoa, easy. Let's have another round." Dean laughed.

Sam smirked and shook his head. "We should get an early start."

"Yeah, you really know how to have fun, don't you, Grandma," Dean answered, sarcastically.

Sam smiled.

"All right, stay with Maddi for a second, I gotta take a leak," Dean said and then walked off to the bathroom.

Sam looked down at me and laughed. "You may have the same appetite as Dean, but you sure don't eat as fast as him."

"Hey, I eat at my own pace. I like to enjoy my food and actually taste it, Dean likes to enjoy his food like a pig," I said, and then popped a french fry into my mouth.

Sam smirked. "Yeah, I guess that's true."

Dean came back to the table shortly after. "All right, you guys ready?"

"No wait, I'm almost done," I said, eating a little faster, not wanting to waste any of my food.

"It's all right, I'm gonna go call that motel and make sure there's actually a vacancy before we drive over there." Sam grabbed his things.

"Okay, we'll meet you outside in a minute," Dean said and then sat down next to me.

Sam nodded and walked out of the bar.

Dean reached over and ripped a chunk of my burger off and tossed it into his mouth.

"Hey, what are you doing!" I yelled and lightly hit his shoulder.

"I'm helping you finish eating." Dean smirked and shoved fries into his mouth.

I quickly shoved the rest of my burger into my mouth and picked up the last few fries on my plate. Pushing them into my mouth once I had room for them.

"I don't need your help," I said after I swallowed.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, I can see that." He picked up my coat. "Come on, let's go."

I stood up, and Dean helped me put my coat on. Then he grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd of people in front of us.

"Ya know if you don't stop eating my food, I'm going to have to give you Sweet Chin Music like Shawn Michaels gave Rob Conway last night," I joked once we walked out of the door.

Dean laughed and turned to look down at me. "Oh, yeah? I'd like to see you try, kid."

I smirked. "Nah, I don't want to hurt you too bad."

Dean smiled and pulled me into a hug. Put me in a headlock and gave me a noogie as we walked.

I grabbed his hand and pulled away from him, smacking him in the stomach and then running the rest of the way to the Impala.

I opened my door and realized Sam was nowhere to be found. "Hey, where's Sam?" I called back to Dean.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked and then quickly ran over, looking into the car. He stood up and looked around with a confused look on his face.

I looked around and realized Sam's research and Dad's journal were left on the trunk of the Impala. I picked it up and showed Dean.

A group of people walked out of the bar, Dean grabbed my hand, and we walked up to them.

"Hey, you guys been outside, around here in the last hour or so?" Dean asked, but they shook their heads and walked away. "Sam!" he yelled.

I started to panic, not sure where Sam could've gone or what might've taken him.

"Sammy!" Dean yelled again. He turned around and looked up, staring at something.

I realized he was looking at a surveillance camera on the top of a streetlight.

"Come on," Dean said, and we ran back to the car and jumped in.

"What are we gonna do? How are we gonna find Sam?" I asked.

Dean looked down and shook his head. "We are gonna have to wait 'til the morning, I want to go to the police station and see what they can do about that surveillance camera out there. It had to have caught something."

"We aren't going to look for him tonight?" I asked, shocked.

"No, we're gonna look for him, but right now, I have no leads, no tracks, nothing to go by. Look, we can't do anything 'til we find something to go off of. I want to look at Sam's research and see what we can find there too," Dean said.

I shook my head. "What if whatever took him—"

"Don't say it..." Dean said, "We are going to find him... okay?"


We set off for the motel Sam had been talking about. Dean went into the office to book us a room, once he was done, we went into the room and researched for a while before getting ready for bed.

As we laid in our beds, I couldn't stop thinking about where Sam was and if he was okay.

"Dean?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Maybe Sam would be with us right now if I didn't finish my food at the bar," I said, softly.

I heard Dean reposition himself in his bed. "Don't do that. What happened isn't your fault."

I started getting choked up. "Yeah, but—"

"Maddi, we are going to find him," Dean said, very seriously.

I started to cry. "What if..."

Dean got out of his bed, walked over to me, and he wrapped his arms around me. "Sam can take care of himself. We will find him, I promise." He kissed the top of my head and rubbed my back. Then I cried myself to sleep in Dean's arms.


The next morning, I woke up, and Dean was already ready to go. So, I quickly got up and dressed so we could head out to find Sam.

"Hey, um. Sorry about last night," I said quietly after we got in the Impala.

Dean looked over. "Why?"

"I don't know." I frowned and shrugged my shoulders, feeling awkward.

"You were upset. I'm the big bro, that's what I'm here for." Dean smiled at me.

"We aren't supposed to get emotional like that," I said.

"What are you talking about... 'aren't supposed to'?" Dean asked with a confused expression.

"You and Dad always say..." I said and then tried to make my voice deeper as I impersonated them. "'No chick flick moments' or 'no tears, stay strong.'"

Dean looked over at me but didn't say anything before looking back to the road. "It's okay to feel upset from time to time. Dad just says that 'cause he wants us to keep our emotions in check, so we stay focused and stay safe."

Before I could respond, we pulled up in front of a building with a Sheriff's Department sign in front of it.

"All right, I'm gonna be right back, stay here and keep the doors closed and locked. Don't unlock them for anyone," Dean instructed.

"I know the rules," I answered.

"I know you do, but you and I both know, sometimes you don't follow them. And this time, it's really important you do 'cause we have no idea what's going on right now, and I don't want you missing when I come back." Dean raised his eyebrows. "So, promise."

I nodded. "I promise."

Dean got out of the car and walked into the building. He was in there for about ten minutes before he returned.

He opened his door and peered in. "Okay, we are going to press our luck here, but I want you to stay with me this time. So, come on."

I got out and followed Dean to a bench out in front of the building. "What are we doing?"

He sat down and patted a spot next to him on the bench, and I sat down. "One of the officers in there, Kathleen, was willing to help find Sam. She thinks my name is Greg Washington, and that I'm an officer looking for my cousin. She doesn't know about you yet, but I'm going to try and convince her to let you stay with us. I don't want to leave you alone at the motel."

"Really?" I asked with a big smile on my face.

"Oh, no, no, no. This isn't me letting you help. This is me protecting you. So, don't get too excited," Dean said.

A brunette woman in uniform walked out of the building holding papers. "Greg."

Dean stood up as she walked over.

"I think we've got something." She handed him the papers. "These traffic cams take an image every three seconds, as part of the Amber Alert program. These images were all taken around the time that your cousin, Sam, disappeared."

Dean looked through the pictures and shook his head. "This really isn't what I'm looking for."

Kathleen watched as Dean flipped through them. "Just wait, wait... next one." He flipped the page, and she pointed to the following image. "This one was taken right after Sam left the bar. Look at the back end of that thing. Now, look at the plates."

Dean flipped another page. "Oh, the plates look new. It's probably stolen."

Kathleen nodded. "So, whoever's driving that rust bucket must be involved."

A vehicle driving by, made a loud whining sound as it passed, causing us all to turn our attention to it.

"Hear that engine?" Dean asked.

"Yeah." Kathleen nodded.

"Kind of a whining growl, isn't it?" Dean asked.

Kathleen shrugged. "Sure."

I gasped, realizing what he was getting at.

Kathleen looked over at me and smiled sweetly. "Hi, what's your name? Are your mommy and daddy around here?"

I hated it when people talked to me like that, sometimes I wished that I wasn't so small, so people would think I was older and not treat me like a baby.

Dean cleared his throat. "Uh, I was actually about to get to that..."

"What?" Kathleen asked, confused.

Dean walked over to me, I stood up, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "This is my little cousin, Maddison, she's Sam's sister."

Realization crossed Kathleen's face. "Oh, no. I could get in enough trouble bringing you along. I can't bring someone else, let alone a child."

"Look, I know, and I understand. But Sam and I are all she has. She wants to find him just as much as I do. I can't leave her alone," Dean said.

Kathleen looked down and shook her head. "I can't."

"She'll follow any rules you give her. No one has to know. You're just helping us find our family, and we appreciate that," Dean said, trying to convince her.

Kathleen looked at me, and I gave her my best puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, fine. But you guys have to listen to what I say, or I'm dropping you back off here." She raised her eyebrows at us.


We were in Kathleen's police car. We had driven past the bar to see where the truck could've taken Sam.

Kathleen pointed up to a streetlight as we drove down the road. "Okay, the next traffic cam is fifty miles from here, and the pickup didn't pass that one, so—"

"So, it must've pulled off somewhere. I didn't see any other roads here," Dean said.

"Well, a lot of these backwoods properties have their own private roads," Kathleen explained.

"Great," Dean said, sarcastically, staring out of his window.

I saw something pop up on Kathleen's computer, she clicked it and then hesitantly looked over at Dean, back to her computer and then back to the road. "So, Gregory."

Uh, oh. This couldn't be good.

Dean turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"I ran your badge number... it's routine when we're working a case with state police. For accounting purposes and what have you," Kathleen explained.

Dean nodded. "Mm-hmm."

Kathleen cleared her throat. "And, uh, they just got back to me." She pulled the car over to the side of the road. "It says here your badge was stolen."

Dean looked surprised.

"And there's a picture of you." Kathleen turned her monitor to reveal a heavier set black man.

"I lost some weight." Dean chuckled. "And I got that Michael Jackson skin disease." He smiled uncomfortably.

Kathleen took off her seat belt. "Okay, would you step out of the car, please?"

"Look, look, look," Dean said, causing Kathleen to stop. "If you wanna arrest me, that's fine. I'll cooperate, I swear. But, first, please... let us find Sam," he said, looking back at me and then at Kathleen.

Kathleen shook her head. "I don't even know who you are. Who this little girl really is. Or if this Sam person is missing."

"Look into my eyes and tell me if I'm lying about this," Dean said seriously.

Kathleen raised her eyebrows. "Identity theft? You're impersonating an officer."

"Look, here's the thing. When we were young, I pretty much pulled him from a fire. And ever since then, I've felt responsible for him. Like it's my job to keep him safe. I'm just afraid if we don't find him fast... please." Dean's voice broke. "He's my family."

Kathleen shook her head. "I'm sorry. You've given me no choice. I'm taking you and this little girl back to the station." She glanced up at her visor at a picture and paused for a moment. "After we find Sam Winchester." Then she refastened her seatbelt.

Uh, what just happened? I had no idea, but I was thankful for it. We would never be able to find Sam if Dean had gotten arrested, and I was taken... wherever I would've been taken.


We had driven around for a couple hours searching, Dean and Kathleen only spoke when it pertained to Sam's disappearance.

Until Kathleen decided to stop at a coffee shop to get some coffee. The three of us went in, and Kathleen got a cup of coffee. Dean ordered himself a coffee and a hot chocolate for me. Once we got our orders, we walked back out to the car.

"Hey, Officer? Look, I don't mean to press my luck," Dean said.

"Your luck is so pressed," Kathleen said.

Dean cleared his throat. "Right. I was wondering... why are you helping me out, anyway? Why don't you just lock me up?"

Kathleen sighed. "My brother, Riley, disappeared three years ago. A lot like Sam. We searched for him, but... nothing. I know what it's like to feel responsible for someone, and for them—" She cut herself off and then opened her door. "Come on. Let's keep at it." She got in the car.

Dean opened the door for me, I got in, and then he sat back in the front.

Kathleen drove us down the road for a bit until Dean spotted something.

"Wait, wait, wait... pull over here. Pull over," Dean said quickly.

Kathleen pulled over, and they both got out of the car, I opened my door and tried to follow. When I looked out, I realized there was a dirt road leading into the woods.

"Maddi, stay in the car." Dean pointed at me and then turned to Kathleen. "It's the first turn-off I've seen so far."

Dean started walking down toward the path.

"You stay here, I'll check it out," Kathleen said.

Dean shook his head. "No way."

"Hey," Kathleen said, causing Dean to stop walking. "You're a civilian. And a felon, I think. I'm not taking you with me."

Dean shrugged. "You're not goin' without me."

Kathleen sighed. "All right. You promise you won't get involved? You'll let me handle it?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, I promise."

"Shake on it." Kathleen extended her hand to Dean, but when he shook it, she quickly put handcuffs him.

"Oh, come on," Dean said.

Kathleen walked Dean over to the car and cuffed him to the door handle and then started walking away.

"This is ridiculous. Kathleen, I really think you're gonna need my help," Dean said.

"I'll manage. Thank you. She responded and then looked at me. "You stay here too." Then she walked off into the woods.

Dean looked down at me. "Good thing she doesn't know you, or we would both be handcuffed to this car."

I rolled my eyes.

Dean sighed. "I gotta start carrying paper clips," he said as he patted his pockets with his free hand, looking for something to pick the lock with.

I hopped out of the car and closed the door. "That's why I always carry this," I said as I pulled an unnecessary bobby pin out of my bun. "You never know when you're going to need it."

Dean held out his hand for me to give it to him, but I ignored him and leaned down to pick the lock myself.

We suddenly heard a screech and a whine from a car, and we both looked up.

"Oh, son of a bitch." Dean looked around. "Come on, Maddi. Let me do it. This is not playtime."

I made an annoyed face at him and went back to what I was doing.

The whine grew louder, and then I heard the handcuffs click.

"Maddison, give me the bobby pin now." Dean leaned over and tried to snatch it from me.

I stood up. "Jeez, you're unlocked. Let's go."

Dean looked at me, stunned. "What? How did you? How do you know how to do that?"

I shrugged. "Taught myself."

The whine sounded off again.

Dean looked around quickly and then put his hand on my back. "Come on, hurry." He pushed me gently, and we ran down the path.

We ran for a few minutes until we stumbled across an old barn and house, there were junk and cars everywhere, and it looked like no one had been living in it for years. Dean walked me to the barn, where we found some stairs that led down to a basement. We turned the corner and saw two large cages with two human-like forms in them.

We walked closer, and I could see Sam looking through the bars.

"Sam?" Dean asked, causing Sam to smile. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Sam said.

"Damn, it's good to see you." Dean smiled.

"I missed you so much." I smiled at Sam, reaching my hand through the bars to touch his face.

"I missed you too." Sam smiled.

"How did you get out of the cuffs?" a voice came from the other cage, I turned to see that it was Kathleen.

"Oh, we know a trick or two." Dean shrugged. "All right." He moved to the locks of the cage doors. "Oh, these locks look like they're gonna be a bitch."

"Well, there's some kind of automatic control right there." Sam pointed to a panel on the wall.

"Have you seen 'em?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Dude, they're just people."

Dean smirked. "And they jumped you? Must be gettin' a little rusty there, kiddo." He walked over to the control panel and started pressing buttons, unsuccessfully. "What do they want?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't know. They let Jenkins go, but that was some sort of trap. It doesn't make any sense to me."

Dean sighed. "Well, that's the point. Ya know, with our usual playmates, there's rules, there's patterns. But with people, they're just crazy."

"See anything else out there?" Sam asked.

"Uh, he has about a dozen junked cars hidden out back. Plates from all over, so I'm thinkin' when they take someone, they take their car, too," Dean said.

"Did you see a black Mustang out there? About ten-years-old?" Kathleen asked.

"Yeah, actually, I did." Dean nodded.

Kathleen looked sad.

"Your brother's?" Dean asked.

Kathleen nodded.

"I'm sorry." Dean sighed. "Let's get you guys out of here, then we'll take care of those bastards." He pointed to the control panel and looked at Sam. "This thing takes a key. Have you seen it?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know."

"All right, I better go find it." Dean went to leave down a hallway and then turned to me. "You stay down here, and if anyone comes, you hide."

I nodded and watched him walk down the hallway.

"Hey," Sam said, causing Dean to stop. "Be careful."

"Yeah," Dean said and kept walking.

As soon as Dean was out of sight, I set off to follow him.

"Maddison, you heard Dean. What are you doing?" Sam called after me.

I turned around. "What if he needs help?"

Sam shook his head. "No, stay here. Dean can handle himself."

"Yeah, you guys keep saying that, but then you get yourselves locked in cages or handcuffed to cars," I said and then turned back down the hallway.

"Maddison, come back here," Sam called after me, but I ignored him.

The hallway was dark, and it kept going for a while, and then I spotted a dim light, and Dean looking around at things. I kept my distance and waited until he continued walking.

Once he did, I kept following but stopped to see what he had been looking at. There were pictures of men smiling and holding dead bodies as if they were proud of the kills, like hunters. There were jars filled with random body parts all over. It was disgusting, and I decided to move on rather than embed more horrors in my brain.

I followed Dean up some stairs that led out into what looked like an old broken-down house. The hallway must have been a tunnel from the barn to the house.

I could hear chopping sounds, and I could see Dean just ahead of me. Dean looked next to him, and then I heard a small clattering sound. He pulled back and looked at what he had just run into, but when he looked around to make sure he didn't attract any attention, he spotted me.

Dean frowned but nodded his head at me to go over to him. When I walked up to him, I realized he had walked into a wind chime made out of bones.

"What are you doing?" Dean whispered.

"I wanted to stay with you," I whispered back.

Dean looked at me for a few seconds. "Fine, but stay close and be quiet. Do everything I tell you," he whispered, then turned back to continue walking.

I grabbed the back of his shirt and followed quietly behind him.

Dean picked up a wooden pole with a large spike that was leaning against the wall and peered into the room that the chopping sound was coming from. We quickly moved passed the room, and I was able to peer in and see a man chopping away at some sort of meat on the counter.

I turned my attention back to what Dean was doing and realized he had picked up a jar full of teeth, looking at it with disgust.

"Dean?" I whispered, "Is that human meat he's chopping up?"

Dean shrugged. "My guess is, yes." Then his attention was caught by something behind me. He walked around me.

I turned around to see a girl about my age, maybe a little older, she was filthy and was wearing ragged clothes.

"Uh, Dean. I wouldn't get too close," I whispered, feeling unnerved by the girl.

Dean ignored me. "Shh. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

The girl pulled out a knife. "I know." She swung at Dean and stabbed his jacket, pinning him to the wall. "Daddy!" she yelled.

"Jeez! Maddison, run!" Dean yelled.

Before I had the chance to, two men came up behind me and threw me on the ground and started attacking Dean.

The girl kept yelling, "Daddy!" with glee.

Dean pulled the knife out of his jacket and swung at one of the men, but the man with a vest grabbed his arm, throwing him into the wall, which caused the knife to fall to the ground. The other man with a plaid shirt ran toward Dean, but Dean grabbed him first and shoved him to the ground. He quickly turned his attention to the vest man and punched him in the face. Plaid shirt man came up behind Dean and pushed him into the wall again. All three of them stood up, ready to go at it again, all the while the girl was still yelling for her dad.

Dean pointed to plaid shirt. "I'm gonna kick your ass first." Then he pointed to vest. "Then yours."

Then another man came up behind him.

"Dean!" I yelled.

But the man hit Dean in the head with a pan, and he fell to the floor unconscious.


The men tied my hands in front of me and set me in a chair and tied Dean's hands behind his back on a chair next to me. I found out that plaid shirt's name was Jared, Vest's name was Lee, the girl's name was Missy, and the three of them called the man who knocked Dean out, Pa. They all wore dirty, ragged clothes, had dirt all over their faces, and were lucky if they shared ten teeth between the four of them.

Dean slowly woke up.

"Come on. Let us hunt him," Lee said to Pa.

"Yeah, this one's a fighter. Sure would be fun to hunt," Jared said.

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me. That's what this is about? You— You yahoos hunt people?" Dean asked.

Pa laughed and smiled evilly. "You ever killed before?"

"Well—" Dean laughed. "Well, that depends on what you mean."

"I've hunted all my life. Just like my father, his before him. I've hunted deer and bear... I even got a cougar once. Oh boy. But the best hunt is human. Oh, there's nothin' like it. Holdin' their life in your hands. Seein' the fear in their eyes just before they go dark. Makes you feel powerful, alive," Pa said.

Dean shook his head. "You're a sick puppy."

Pa smiled. "We give 'em a weapon. Give 'em a fightin' chance. It's kind of like our tradition passed down, father to son."

Missy walked over and eerily stared at Dean while Lee ran his fingers through her hair.

"Of course, only one or two a year. Never enough to bring the law down, we never been that sloppy," Pa continued.

Dean smirked. "Yeah, well, don't sell yourself short. You're plenty sloppy."

"So, what, you with that pretty cop?" Pa asked.

Missy smiled up at Lee, who returned a creepy smile.

"Are you a cop?" Pa asked, now hunched down with his face only inches from Dean's.

"If I tell you, you promise not to make me into an ashtray?" Dean smirked.

Pa glared at Lee, who then walked over and punched Dean across the face.

I gasped, causing Missy to look at me and smile.

"Only reason I don't let my boys take you right here and now is that there's somethin' I need to know," Pa said, grabbing a hot poker out of the fireplace.

"Yeah, how 'bout it's not nice to marry your sister?" Dean joked.

I nudged his leg, wanting him to stop purposely making them angry.

"Tell me... any of the cops gonna come lookin' for you?" Pa asked.

Dean breathed heavily, fighting through the pain of being punched several times. "Oh, eat me... no, no, no, wait, wait, wait... you actually might."

Jared walked over and held Dean's head in place.

"You think this is funny? You brought this down on my family. All right, you wanna play games? We'll play some games. Looks like we're gonna have a hunt tonight after all, boys," Pa said, looking at Dean. "And you get to pick the animal. The boy or the cop?"

"Okay, wait, wait... look, nobody's comin' for me, all right? It's just us," Dean said.

"You don't choose, I will," Pa said, and stuck the hot poker on Dean's shoulder.

Dean yelled in pain, I started to cry, not knowing how we were going to get out of this and hating to see my brother being tortured.

"Ah, you son of a bitch!" Dean yelled.

Pa held the poker in front of Dean's eye. "Next time, I'll take an eye."

"No! Please stop!" I cried.

Pa looked over at me. "You want some, little girl?"

Jared let go of Dean and walked over to hold me in place.

"Get your hands off her!" Dean yelled.

Pa walked over, holding the poker in front of my face while smiling at Dean.

"All right, the guy! The guy! Take the guy!" Dean yelled.

Jared let go of me, and Pa moved the poker down by his side. He took a key off from around his neck and handed it to Lee.

"Lee, go do it. Don't let him out, though. Shoot him in the cage." Pa smiled.

Lee walked out of the room with a massive grin on his face.

"What? I thought you said you were gonna hunt him. You were gonna give him a chance," Dean said, angrily.

Pa called to Lee, now hunched down, and staring into Dean's eyes. "Lee, when you're done with the boy... shoot the bitch, too."

Lee nodded and left with his rifle.

"Better clean this mess up before any more cops come runnin' out here," Pa said.

Dean looked terrified, which scared me more.

A few seconds later, we all heard a gunshot.

I started to cry harder because it meant that Sam was dead. I looked up and saw Missy smiling at me, which just made me angry.

"You hurt my brother, I'll kill you, I swear. I'll kill you all. I will kill you all!" Dean yelled.

Pa walked over to the top of the stairs. "Lee! Lee!" He turned to Jared. "Jared, you come with me." Then he turned to Dean. "When we get back, I'm going to kill that little bitch while you watch, and then I'm going to kill you."

Jared laughed and leaned in front of me, so we were eye level. "I ain't never tried little girl before, I bet the meats nice and tender." He smiled.

Pa laughed and turned to Missy. "You watch them now." Missy nodded, and then Jared followed Pa down the stairs with two rifles.

Missy smiled down at Dean and me, wielding a knife. Then she walked up to Dean and held the knife dangerously close to his eye.

"Get away from him!" I yelled.

Missy turned her attention to me, still holding the knife in front of Dean.

"Maddison, be quiet," Dean said.

"No, they're just going to kill us anyway," I said.

Missy smiled.

"I hope my brother's down there right now, kicking your dad's ass." I smirked.

"Maddison," Dean scolded, with slight fear in his voice.

Anger spread across Missy's face as she approached me with the knife.

As soon as she stepped in front of me, I kicked her in the stomach with both of my feet, she stumbled back. I stood up, and before she could try to attack me, I used my hands to smack her across the face like a baseball bat. She instantly went down, dropping the knife.

I picked up the knife and turned around to see Dean with a huge smile on his face. Like a proud parent watching their kid hit a home run for the first time.

"What?" I asked and walked behind him to cut his hands free.

Dean laughed. "I mean that was no Sweet Chin Music, but that was pretty awesome."

I laughed and freed Dean's hands and then handed him the knife so he could cut my hands free.

"Come on," Dean said, after cutting the ropes from my wrists.

"Wait," I said, and picked up the ropes off of the ground. I quickly tied Missy's hands together and then nodded for Dean to lead the way.

We heard another gunshot and ran out of the house to find Sam running out of the barn toward us.

"Sam, you're okay!" I yelled and ran into him with a hug.

"Where's Kathleen?" Dean asked as he ran up to Sam and me.

"She was watching the dad, while I went to help you guys," Sam said.

Kathleen came out of the barn a moment later and ran over to meet us, holding one of the rifle's Jared and Pa brought with them.

"Where's the girl?" she asked.

"Tied up. What about the dad?" Dean asked.

Kathleen paused. "Shot. Trying to escape."

Sam and Dean exchanged looks.


After we had all reconnected, we made sure Jared and Lee were tied up and unable to get away. Then we found Kathleen's things so she could call it in. After she did, we all started walking back to where we had left Kathleen's car.

"I think the cars at the police station," Dean said to Sam.

A woman came through Kathleen's walkie-talkie. "Backup unit en route to your location."

"So, state police and the FBI are gonna be here within the hour. They're gonna wanna talk to you. I suggest that you're all long gone by then," Kathleen said.

Dean nodded. "Thanks. Hey, listen, I don't mean to press our luck, but we're kind of in the middle of nowhere. Think we could catch a ride?"

Kathleen shook her head. "Start walking. Duck if you see a squad car."

Sam nodded. "Sounds great to me. Thanks."

"Listen, uh... I'm sorry about your brother," Dean said, sincerely.

"Thank you." Kathleen teared up. "It was really hard not knowing what happened to him. I thought it would be easier once I knew the truth... but it isn't really." She paused. "Anyway, you should go."

We turned, I held onto Dean's hand, and we started walking down the road.

After a minute, Dean spoke, "Never do that again."

"Do what?" Sam asked.

"Go missin' like that," Dean said.

Sam laughed. "You were worried about me."

"All I'm sayin' is, you vanish like that again, I'm not lookin' for ya," Dean said.

"Sure, you won't," Sam said.

"I'm not," Dean said.

Sam chuckled. "So, you got sidelined by a thirteen-year-old girl, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," Dean said.

"Just sayin', gettin' rusty there, kiddo," Sam said.

Dean laughed. "Shut up."

"Hey, Sam, guess what I did," I said, excited.

"What's that?" Sam smirked.

"I beat that girl up and freed Dean and me," I said.

"What?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they didn't have me tied down to the chair, so once those guys left, I made her mad so she would leave Dean alone and come over to me, and once she did I kicked her and then she stumbled back like this..." I said as I demonstrated how Missy stumbled away from my kick as we were walking. "Then, when she tried to attack me, I smacked her across the face..." I showed how I hit her.

Sam laughed. "You're something else."

"Yeah, Dean said I was awesome," I said proudly while walking backward so I could look at my brothers while I told my story.

"That's 'cause it was awesome." Dean laughed.

"Sounds like it," Sam said, reaching out and ruffling my hair and then pulling me into his side as we continued walking.

The walk back to the motel was long and tiring, but we tried to keep each other entertained the whole time. Once we walked into our motel room, we collapsed into our beds and got some rest before packing up and heading out the next morning.