CULTORTURE Chapter 2

First Aid

Dean looked into the rearview mirror with a worried look. Caleb had wrapped the girl in the blanket and put her down flat on the back seat. Because she had been conscious in the forest and shaking violently when they found her, the hypothermia couldn't have progressed so far. It was quite cold at this time of year out here in the forest in the middle of the night. And she had almost no cloth on, her skin shimmering bluish in the mirror. He wasn't sure if the hospital hadn't been the better choice now she was unconscious. Hopefully, that wasn't a mistake.

"What's wrong with her Damien? Is she hurt?"

"She's bleeding between her legs. Otherwise, I haven't found a wound. But it's pretty dark. Let's check her over at the motel."

Dean steered the impala into the motel's parking lot. Only a quiet squeak of the brakes testified to their arrival. The place was dark and only dimly lit. No one would notice their arrival with an unconscious girl. Still, he checked the area if anyone was watching them when he gave Caleb a sign that the air was clean. The older hunter carried Darla tightly tugged on his chest inside the room. A quiet click came over from the door lock as Dean closed the door and turned the light on.

"I'm going to get the first aid bag." Dean left for the bathroom. Caleb put her down to the bed and tried to take off the wet grey something that looked like a penitential robe. The fucking thing won't come off her wet skin. He cut the fabric off with scissors from the bag, which Dean had placed on the end of the bed. When they finally freed her from the wet thing, they found what no one should see.

"Holy shit what is that!" Caleb said.

Strange symbols were carved on her belly, it was not fresh, which is why she had not bled. But it looked inflamed. She also had several bruises on her arms, legs, and neck and, as previously noted, she was bleeding slightly in the crotch area. Caleb saw a small lace attached to her wrist. It was all beside the grey material that she'd have on her body.

"I've never seen anything like that, you?"

"I'm not sure, Deuce. Take a photo of the signs and send it to Bobby, maybe he has something."

Caleb dried her body with a towel that Dean had put beneath the bag.

Dean only tried to photograph the signs. It felt like a spanner. He was sorry for the wounded girl in front of him. He hoped she would soon come to herself. Meanwhile, the psychic checked the bandage bag and took several bandage pads together, and placed them between her legs to stop the bleeding as best he could. If she was raped, maybe they should take her to a hospital. She could have internal injuries that they didn't know about. But he had promised not to take her to the hospital. He himself had a pronounced hospital phobia and could understand it. He checked her pulse again. It seemed to recover a bit. Dean had meanwhile found the anti-inflammatory cream and handed it to his friend. Caleb applied the cream thinly on the symbols and they wrapped her in as many blankets as the room had to warm her up.

"Do we have a thermometer in there?"

"What do you think, Mac has packed the bag. Thermometers are his second favorite toy after his stick flashlight, Deuce. Look in the small side pocket."

"Got it, here."

Caleb took the thermometer and wiped it off with an alcohol swab and placed it under Darla's tongue. 91,8 °F said the display.

"This is slight hypothermia. Maybe we have heat pads with us?"

He continued to scour the bag and found two pads that he placed in the back of her neck and stomach.

"Damien, if her temperature isn't rising, maybe we'll have to call 9-1-1."

"I know! I'm gonna call Dad."

Caleb picked up the phone and dialed Mac's hotel number in Denver. He was there at a congress and had dropped off Caleb where Dean picked him up and they somehow landed here in Colorado Springs.

"Hello?" a sleepy voice answered at the other end.

*** The Brotherhood ***

"Dad, it's me. We have a little problem here."

Dr. Mackland Ames was immediately awake. He hoped whether his son nor Dean were in trouble or hurt. "Caleb! Are you all right?"

"Yes Dad, we're ok. We picked up a girl here. She is hypothermic and I think she was raped. She collapsed in my arms. She begged me not to take her to the hospital."

"Son, that doesn't sound like our kind of job, you should call 9-1-1."

"I promised her and there's something else..." Caleb paused as if he was searching for the right words. "She has carved symbols on the body. I've never seen anything like that. We also found her because I had a vision of her. I only have visions, if it's something supernatural, you know Dad."

"OK, tell me how she's doing now."

After his son gave him an overview of the woman's injuries, he made a decision. "Where are you?"

„Colorado Springs"

"Try to keep her warm and keep an eye on her pulse as well as her temperature. I'm on my way. It will take me a good hour.'

"OK, thank you, Dad."

*** The Brotherhood ***

Caleb put the listener down and ran his hand over his eyes and brushed his black strands out of his face. His head began to pound again. He searched for the Tylenol pills and took two of them. "Mac is on his way." Caleb went to the fridge and took a bottle of water with which he washed down the pills.

Dean tracked his movements. "Put yourself to rest a little bit, I'll keep guard. You look like shit, Damien. Are you too old to hook up with a girl from a bar and then do a job after?"

Caleb twisted his mouth to a wry grin. "Shut up, smartass, the hot chick from the bar has demanded a lot from me, but the vision has given me the rest. Try not to walk in my shoes." But Caleb had no further objections and dropped into the second bed to nurse his headaches.

Dean looked at Darla every ten minutes and took her temperature twice. Relieved, he saw it was rising. He pulled her back into the blankets when he heard a soft moan. But she remained unconscious. Dean sat down at the laptop again and searched for the symbols on the Internet.

He was jerked awake when a car was heard outside the motel. He must have dozed off. He looked at the clock. The last time he looked at it was ten minutes ago. Slowly it was getting brighter outside. Steps could be heard and a gentle knock on the door.

"Boys, it's me."

Mac's voice made Dean let out a sigh of relief. He rushed to the door and opened it. The noises had awakened Caleb from his restless sleep. He grumbled quietly as he put his still booted legs from the bed.

"Hey, Mac. Good, you're here."

"Hi, Dean. How is she doing?"

Mac stepped in and had the familiar black doctor's bag in his hand, which he placed at the bedside. Dean closed the door behind him and came closer.

"A little bit better, but far from good."

Mac repeated the checkup and looked at the signs himself.

"I've never seen anything like that either. Did you ask Bobby?"

"I've already sent him a picture. We're still waiting for an answer."

Mac turned to his young patient again and scanned her belly carefully. She couldn't be older than 20. She moaned slightly and seemed to come slowly to herself. Caleb approached the bed and sat down at the edge of the bed to look at her. Her eyelids fluttered. Then she opened them to narrow slits.

"Hey Darla, it's ok. We wanna help you."

*** The Brotherhood ***

Darla opened her eyes and looked into a beautiful face with amber eyes and black hair, and yet she began to panic over the view. She turned her head to the other side, where a younger man stood. His green eyes were staring at her, and an older man with a mustache grabbed her belly. She jerked and tried to move away as much as possible, but her body denied her any service. More than a twitching and an outcry didn't make her body.

"Easy, no one will harm you here." She was reassured by Caleb. "Remember, I'm Caleb, we've found you."

Confused, she looked at the black-haired man. Caleb? She had heard the name before. The forest, she had run until her legs could hardly carry her anymore. When she saw the lights on the street, she just wanted to hide. She was so afraid that her henchmen were looking for her, that she had run into the undergrowth. There Caleb had caught up with her. He was not one of them. He had behaved very differently. She relaxed a little bit.

The man with the mustache had taken her hands off her when she panicked. Caleb saw the spark of recognition in her gaze and continued to speak. "That's Dean and my dad. He is a Doctor. We want to help you. Can you tell us what happened?"

"I... I do not know... it's all messed up." Still distraught and frightened, she pulled the blanket closer to herself. She was trembling as the doctor addressed her.

"Caleb told me you didn't want to be brought to the hospital. I can help you better if you tell me what hurts and what happened. Should I send the boys out? They have to get a few things anyway.

Darla thought briefly and then nodded. Mac meant Dean and Caleb to wait outside.

"What kind of doctor are you?"

"I am a neurosurgeon. My name is Mackland Ames, but I am quite useful as a field doctor. The boys keep me on my toes." He smiled cheerfully at her.

"I'm cold and my neck hurts. She pointed to the front of her neck, where one could clearly see bruises."

Caleb's father looked at this and carefully scanned her larynx. "Apart from a slight bruise, it is fine. May I scan your belly, I want to know if you are in pain, Caleb said you had bleeding."

She nodded and Dr. Ames scanned her stomach and abdomen. He sighed relieved. "Seems all inconspicuous. Do you have your period?"

She shook her head and knew he was referring to the blood on her thighs.

"May I take a look at where the blood comes from?"

If she didn't want to be brought to the hospital yet, she had to trust this doctor. He made a nice appearance and radiated so much calm that she felt safe in his presence. She nodded restrainedly.

*** The Brotherhood ***

Dean and Caleb had gone to the snack machine, which stood around the corner. They fed themselves with M&Ms and Coke as breakfast substitutes. Not that they wouldn't get breakfast anyway, but the long night demanded sugar and caffeine. As they waited in the car, Mac headed to them and gave Caleb a note through the window.

"I think she can skip the hospital for now. Please buy everything that is on the list."

They drove with the roar of AC/DC first to buy breakfast and supplied themselves with hot coffee. Caleb had the sunglasses on again. He flew over the note while driving shotgun.

"OK, I'm taking care of the clothes and underwear, you're going to the drugstore." Announced the older hunter with a nasty grin on his face.

"Dude, what's on the list?"

Dean had not missed the grin of his best friend.

"Nothing world-shattering. Shampoo, toothbrushes, sanitary napkins... normal stuff."

"You're kidding me, that's not on it."

They drove to the parking lot of the Walmart center and Dean turned off the engine. Caleb handed him the note. Dean could clearly read the word "sanitary napkins".

"Why don't you get that? My taste in fashion is better anyway!?"

„Huntersmanual, Deuce!"

"Bite me. But don't you dare to tell Sammy!" Dean came to an end. Damien wouldn't blackmail him. After all, he was almost like his brother. But if he thought about it like that now, wasn't it exactly what brothers liked, to blackmail their siblings with? Darla's distraught face came to his mind. He would buy for her what was needed. She had sure as hell been through enough.

They split up inside. Caleb roamed the alleys that formed between the clothes racks. Eventually, he opted for a black and purple shirt that wasn't tight and two pajamas that went up. Two not so ugly jogging pants, cotton underwear, and a set of socks. The 25-year-old usually bought other types of underwear, but that's how it was on the note. Dean had given him the bottom half of the list. He hoped his father would be satisfied with his choice. He still needed shoes, Mac had even noted the size.

In the shoe department, Dean found his friend. He stood out from the women's section like a two-dollar hooker. Because no man over 1.90 bought shoes in the women's department at this unholy time. His foray into the drugstore department had been terribly embarrassing for him. He couldn't believe how many products under the term "sanitary napkins" were. He had stood in front of the shelf and read the descriptions until the saleswoman asked him if he needed help. After a quickly lied story about his sister who had received her period, he had moved well equipped out of the store.

Damien seemed to be having more fun, Dean thought, as he was already flirting with the underwear saleswoman.

"Hey, I got everything, and you? Do you think they are the right ones?" He burst in between and held Caleb a pack of "Always extra strong" under his nose. The saleswoman went back to work and left the two standing.

"Wouldn't you have taken revenge on me after I got her number?"

"No, you deserve that, believe me. I'm not going to have sex for at least a week."

"I don't believe you one single word. I'm going to count. Let's head back to the motel."

TBC