This one is a bit violent, just a heads up.

The car was filled with tense anticipation. Bobby knew where Sam was and now they were finally on their way to Cold Oak, South Dakota. Alec knew where South Dakota was on the map, but that's as much as he knew about the place. Manticore made sure they only knew what they had to, to complete their missions.

Manticore didn't have to worry about their creations escaping; they knew that the transgenics didn't know enough of the real world to survive on their own. If the fear of survival wasn't enough, then the fear of getting caught would do the trick to keep them in their cage. The times that Alec had been punished had been the worst times of his life; he hadn't even been responsible for some of the times but that didn't get him off the hook.

Dean drove as fast as he could down the deserted street, but Alec was still impatient to get there; he couldn't stop his leg from bouncing up and down. He knew Dean felt the same way, but even more so than him. Sam was his actual brother and although Alec felt like family, he knew he didn't have anything close to what Sam and Dean had.

Dean would kill himself if it meant saving Sam, but Alec hoped it wouldn't come to that. What would he do if Sam was dead? He couldn't let Dean kill himself, but Dean wouldn't want to live if Sam died. Sam would want Dean to live and he'd expect Alec to keep his older brother alive. It wasn't a decision he wanted to make. He'd just have to make sure they found Sam before something bad happened to him.

"Looks like the rest of the way's on foot…" Bobby muttered.

Alec looked up in surprise. He hadn't realized that Dean had stopped the car in front of a fallen tree until Bobby said something. Dean was already out of the car and Bobby was waiting impatiently for him to get out. He quickly met Dean at the trunk once he focused on what was going on.

Dean already had a shotgun in his hand and gave Alec one as soon as he reached the back. He grabbed a flashlight while Bobby grabbed his own gear. There were quiet as they stocked up, but Alec found it almost calming to be handling weapons again. It was something he was used to and it included something he was actually good at.

Dean looked him over quickly and then said, "Let's go," and shut the trunk.

Alec followed Dean through the underbrush, but he listened hard to make sure he didn't miss anything. He had a bad feeling about this place and his instincts were keeping him on high alert.

The underbrush was annoying to walk through since the sticks and vines kept tripping them up and slowing them down. They all wanted to reach Sam as soon as possible, but it seemed like everything was getting in the way and trying to stop them.

Alec stopped, he thought he heard the sound of wood breaking, but it was hard to tell over everyone's footsteps. His stopping though had Dean and Bobby stopping too, which made it easier for him to hear.

"What is it?" Dean asked, looking at Alec curiously.

"I heard something break…"

"From out here? There's no way! We're still too far from the town," Bobby stated, but Alec ignored him and tried to block everything else out.

"He has really good hearing," Dean explained quickly, but Alec waved for both of them to be quiet. He heard something else, but it was quieter than the first time so he didn't know what it was.

He looked to Dean, "I can make it over there faster if I run."

Dean immediately shook his head, "No, you're not going over there without backup."

Alec looked ahead and then looked back at Dean and said with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Dean, but I wasn't asking…" He took off running as fast as he could in the direction of the town.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion when he ran like this, so the underbrush wasn't much of a problem. He did stumble a few times, but he managed to catch himself before he fell completely.

The brush finally gave way to a gravel street lined with old, abandoned buildings. He scanned the area as quickly as he could and he saw Sam a few yards away. He was standing over some guy with what looked like a crowbar in his hand.

"Sam!" Alec yelled, immediately drawing Sam's attention.

"Alec?" Sam asked in confusion.

"You alright?" Alec asked slowly as he walked closer to Sam. He carefully pulled the crowbar from his hand and held it loosely in his own grip and led him further away from the guy on the ground. Sam didn't protest being led away as they got to a safer distance. Alec didn't know what the guy had done, but he knew the guy deserved whatever Sam did to him. Not only that, but Sam was holding his right arm close to his body which was enough for Alec to want to go over to the guy and get his own revenge.

"Where's Dean?" Sam asked, completely ignoring Alec's question.

"He's on his way…"

"Sam!" Dean voice called out from far away and Sam's head looked to the direction it came from.

"Dean!" Sam called back, but he stayed by Alec's side.

Dean appeared from the same area that Alec had come from with Bobby right behind him.

Dean jogged toward them as soon as he saw them and called out, "Sammy, you alright?"

Sam nodded, but Dean scowled at the sight of Sam's arm. Dean stopped right in front of Sam and took in the sight of his brother.

"What happened? Let me look at ya…where else are you hurt?" Dean immediately asked as he carefully checked Sam over.

"I'll tell ya later, let's just get out of here," Sam tiredly answered, but he let Dean do his check over.

Dean finally stepped back and said, "I think you'll live, I'll patch you up as soon as we get out of here," but then he turned to Alec, "Don't ever do that again. You don't run off without backup, you hear me?"

Alec nodded guiltily, but then stiffened at the sound quiet footsteps headed their way.

The crowbar was suddenly pulled from his loose grip and he looked up in surprise. Sam had the crowbar in his hand and turned around quickly. The guy from the ground was right behind them; Sam swung hard and caught the guy on the shoulder. The man turned with the force of the hit and fell to the ground hard. A small knife fell out of his hand and Alec quickly scooped it up.

Sam raised the crowbar over his head and swung down again. Alec watched in shock as Sam brought down the crowbar again and again, blood splattering his face each time he made contact. Dean finally shook himself and ran forward. He grabbed Sam's arm and stopped his motion as he swung down again.

The man's face was covered in blood and Alec could tell that half of the bones in his face had been broken. The man was hardly recognizable and if he had still been alive, he would have been in an intense amount of pain.

It took Sam a moment to focus on Dean, but when he did, his legs collapsed. Dean caught him, but had to sink down until both of them were on their knees. Dean pulled the crowbar out of Sam's hand and held it out for Alec to take. Dean grabbed Sam's chin and gently made Sam meet his eyes. Sam's eyes were dazed, but he focused on Dean and didn't look beyond his brother.

"Sammy, you hear me?" Dean asked quietly.

Sam just blinked so Dean shook him slightly and said a little more urgently, "Sammy! Talk to me man!"

"What happened?" Sam asked, confused.

"It's ok, we're getting out of here," Dean stated firmly as he helped Sam back up to his feet.

Sam swayed a little once he was on his feet, but Dean kept a steadying hand against his back. Dean looked back at Alec and Bobby and said, "C'mon, we need to get out of here."

Alec was still staring wide-eyed at Sam, but Bobby moved forward to Sam's other side. Alec couldn't quite believe what he'd seen and it took him a moment to snap out of it and trail behind the others back to the car.

More soon...