The black shifted and moved around them, closing in one second, backing off the next. It craved Sam, but didn't want to openly confront Dean. They'd weakened it, possibly trapped it, with the herbs, and their sheer unwillingness to be taken, separated, and attacked. Swirls and vortexes formed only to vanish nearly at once. Wisps of burning, biting cold stabbed at them, only to retreat when Dean turned his attention on them.
Keeping Sam ahead of him, so he was between as much of the demon and Sam as possible, Dean charged straight into its core. He kept going until they hit the wall opposite the room they'd just left. Or more specifically, Sam hit the wall and Dean hit Sam. Sam might've had inches on Dean, but Dean had pounds on Sam. So the fact Dean forcefully sandwiched him between himself and the wall had to hurt. The soft grunt and softer whimper that slipped from Sam confirmed Dean's suspicions. Dean's little brother wasn't actually very little, but being shoved into things by Dean was going to hurt.
The knowledge of what he'd be about to do twisted in Dean's stomach, making him want to vomit. He'd have to hurt Sam on purpose in the midst of a thing that hungered after and fed off such an act. Its desire for their pain, their fear, sat thick and sour on Dean's tongue and oozed to the back of his throat.
Dean was counting on the fact Sam was tough and strong, he'd weather the physical abuse about to be doled out, even if it did come from Dean. Bruises, physical ones, healed fast. Dean's primary concern was keeping physical contact between Sam and the boogeyman to a minimum. That meant they had to keep moving. Keep moving meant they were going to run into things they couldn't see right now.
It was Sam's reactions, the small flinches, quick intake of breath, the sudden cringing back against Dean that told him which way to turn, what direction to take. Sam reacted strongly to this thing and it to him. Through his brother Dean tracked its strongest and weakest points, found them a path through. As terrifying as this thing was to Dean, it didn't have the ability to nearly paralyze him as it did to Sam.
They were right in the belly of the beast.
It skimmed over them; Dean felt a cool touch slime cross his cheek. He twisted to the side, blocking Sam, knowing it'd made contact when Sam turned and pressed his forehead to Dean's shoulder for the briefest second, hissing in a breath between his teeth. He felt the ebb and flow of the energy surrounding them, how it would move in, poke and prod, test for weakness, then pull back unexpectedly.
Sam pushed off the wall, Dean's fingers tightened on his neck. Sam's tight and small nod—I'm okay, Dean, go, go!—Gave Dean the courage to forge ahead.
Clinging to Sam as if he was some tether and Dean was a drowning man, Dean turned them toward the longer, main hall. Their dash cut short by a glancing hit to the corner of the wall. Dean felt the breath forced from Sam's lungs in a soft whoosh, he bent over, clutching Dean's wrist to his middle, trapping it between his arm and torso. Dean felt a ripple of pain go through his brother, braced one hand against his back, rubbing a few times before applying enough pressure to force them into movement again. It used their stop to immediately close in. Trying to force distance between them.
Sam must've felt it too. His fingers at once tightened even more around Dean's wrist. Dean felt how he sucked in a sudden breath, how the muscles along his back went rigid. Dean realized the black was shifting more of its energy around him and to Sam. It was changing tactics, testing a direct assault on Sam.
The black pooled along their feet, when it started shimmying up, Dean spun around. Sam was nearly yanked off his feet, unable to see or know just what Dean was doing and he nearly lost his balance. They froze for a few seconds, hanging onto each other's arms, getting their footing. This time when Dean shoved forward, Sam's feet were already moving. Sam was as able to read Dean's body language as Dean was Sam's, he simply had less contact.
They stumbled a few more feet before regaining coordination between them, then sprinted in the direction of the exit. Dean felt some of the pressure building in his ears decrease. The black backed off, whether by design or surprise, Dean didn't know. The next wall they slammed head on into had a door to the outside along its length. Again plowing Sam into the wall with his momentum, Dean cringed and fought the sting of tears when his brother yelped, then recoiled and moaned something too close to a soft sob for Dean's liking.
It tried insinuating itself between them again, pushing them apart. Dean hung on tighter; moving so one arm was securely around Sam's middle. He nudged at Sam's leg with his knee. That small bit of encouragement sent Sam inching forward. All the while he gripped Dean's wrist with one hand, his other hand out in front in an effort to deflect them from walls, find an out.
The pressure behind Dean's eyes and in his ears escalated. The air around grew thick and a bone chilling damp closed in. A force pushed against them, tried pushing them back. It was as if the hurricane force winds outside had been shifted inside the school's walls. He felt how the fingers of Sam's free hand inched along the wall, pulling them. Dean pressed against Sam's back, pushing his weight forward as his brother dragged them together, making their way to the door.
The shudders wracking Sam repeatedly reverberated through Dean to course up and down his spine. The black tried forcing them back, but they held fast to the wall and each other. For a few minutes they neither gained ground nor lost it. The air around them vibrated with hate, anger, a sheer desire to terrorize.
Sam suddenly letting go of the wall, twisting in Dean's grip, backpedaling and shoving against Dean to move, let him know the black, the demon had snaked around and was coming straight at them. It was done toying; about to lose its prey to the outside. Dean realized the door was right there, looming in front of them. Sam's entire body seized, the breath forced from his lungs with a sickening squeak.
The building pressure turned to a roar, surrounding them, coming from all directions at once. The black intensified, obscuring even Dean's view of his brother, his only contact with Sam remaining was the grip he had on him. Dean felt exactly the instant when the black tried to claim Sam again, felt how it wound around his brother in a grip nearly as powerful as Dean's. Felt Sam's panic as he struggled to free himself, resist whatever form of horror was being forced into his thoughts.
Pressure wrapped around Dean, an invisible all encompassing vice. It pressed in from all sides, making it nearly impossible to expand his ribs and fill his lungs. The roar surrounding them threatened to explode his head. His eardrums pounded mercilessly, trying to find a way out of his skull. He dipped his head, pressed his face against Sam's shoulder in an effort squelch the sheer agony his head suddenly became.
The black shoved cruelly between them, tried forcing them apart with spikes of cold pain that stabbed into Dean's belly. Sam stumbled and dropped in his arms, nearly causing Dean to lose his hold. Another small wheeze brushed out of Sam in time with another tremble coursing through him. Sudden panic, like that of the rabbit sitting in the hawk's claws, knowing it was about to have its neck snapped shot through Dean. It draped over and around him fast and intense.
Dean knew exactly where it was coming from. His own panic fed off Sam's. Literally throwing Sam forward, their only contact remaining the iron grip Sam had on his wrist, they smashed against the door.
Sam spent a few seconds fumbling with it before shoving it open. They tumbled out into a hurricane.
Released without warning from the pressure, Dean staggered and dropped to his knees, taking Sam with him. Rolling away from the door he kicked at it with both feet. It swung shut with enough force it shattered. Wind slammed into him, knocking him to one side. The rain slapped his skin, tiny darts biting and stinging his skin.
Sam's entire body rippled and jerked with dry heaves alternating with him trying to inhale. How he still held fast to Dean's wrist was a mystery to Dean. Clutching Dean closer, Sam managed to get one arm around Dean's shoulders, giving him enough support he lurched to his feet. The black of his vision, the roaring pressure in his head retreated only to be replaced by the battering of wind driven debris and rain.
Sam barely managed to get Dean's feet under him, help heft him upright when he went down. His legs felt like Jello, his body a useless mass of quaking muscle. He desperately tried to stop his insides from fighting for freedom, but the spasms intensified despite every bit of his efforts. Gravity beat against him, hunching him over, barely able to hold himself away from the ground on one shaking arm. Bile stung his tongue, flooded his mouth and burnt a path through his sinuses to drip from his nose.
Pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes, Sam wondered if Dean even realized he was shouting through clenched teeth. Finally seeing Dean's mouth move, gulping in wind-driven air, it was a few tense seconds of Sam's silent pleading before Dean lifted his eyes and met Sam's. Pushing against each other, using each other's solid weight to brace against, they struggled to their feet.
Water sloshed and splashed around their feet, going nearly to the middle of Sam's shins. Already he felt strong currents eddy around his legs. Dean slid one arm across Sam's back, tugging him closer.
"We gotta get out of here." Dean's voice sounded like he was trying to shout with a throat full of sandpaper. Had he not been practically on top of Sam, spoken in Sam's ear, Sam doubted he'd have even heard.
Sam could only nod and spit more phlegm into the water at his feet. Fisting Dean's jacket in one hand, he tugged, jutted his chin in the direction he wanted to point out.
Dean nodded and straightened a bit more, seeming to get more of his coordination back, his footing steadier. The cement barriers were just ahead. Behind them in the school the sounds of shattering glass from the courtyard in the school erupted in the air. Most of the outer windows were glass block. Screeching from the building grew louder only to recede in the next second, then grow in volume a few seconds later as the sounds circled the inside of the building.
Through the windows they watched as the black fled along the halls. Sam felt its anger even outside. It raced faster and faster around the inside of the building, fleeting glimpses of it appeared in one part, then another within seconds. Unable to cross the barrier of the outer wall, Sam surmised because of the herb packets, it projected out a wave of loathing and destruction that nearly drove Sam to the ground.
Dean pulled him up far enough he could get his legs moving. Shoving against Dean's chest with one hand, Sam rasped out, "Go!"
Barely able to see where they were going through the wall of rain, they only knew they were moving away from the school, the boogeyman and its evil and hatred. Sam vaguely registered the sharp pain from hitting the cement pylon before he slipped between two of them, holding tight to Dean's jacket and jerking him along.
He never felt Dean's hand hitting him square between his shoulder blades until his arms connected with the ground and his newly acquired lungful of air was forced out with a harsh grunt. Sliding down behind one of the barriers, Sam rolled to one side and covered his head with one arm. Dean landed on top of him, forcing him closer to the ground and against the cement barrier.
Pulling his jacket up, and over both their heads, Dean blew out one word, "Duck!"
It was all the warning Sam had before the center of the school exploded up. Glass, brick, metal shards and plants fountained skyward along with an eruption of dense black, giving everything the impression of some bizarre volcano blowing out lava and a plasma cloud.
Howling and screaming on the wind, the demon swirled over the school before disappearing, carried off on the gusts of Hurricane Willa.
"C'mon, Dean." Sam stumbled to his feet, grasping Dean's hands and hoisting him up.
They made their way along the rope they'd tied, each with one hand gripping rope. With the other hand each man held his brother, using their combined weight and bulk to pull each other along against the wind.
Sam was exhausted by the time they reached the entrance of the parking garage, staggering in he dropped at once against an inner wall, not even caring water churned against his legs.
Dean leaned over him, hands on knees, doubled over his middle, chest heaving as he panted in deep breaths. "Well, we know how to trap it, and repel it."
Turning his eyes up, Sam could only nod once before he was forced to roll away, retching. The pain from how his abdomen contracted and closed in on itself intensified, skirted to his back and nearly knocked him flat.
Dean's hand pressed flat against his back quieted the spasms a bit, gave Sam something to focus on. His softly spoken, "Hey, Sammy, easy," helped even out his breathing, stopped the spinning of his head and most importantly chased the horrible panic from a few minutes before away.