Sorry about the cliffhanger in the last chapter, thanks for reading and your kind comments. Hope you continue to enjoy.

Chapter 4

Going Down

The bullet whipped sure and fast through the air towards its target, piercing effortlessly through crisp, clean air, through pollen gently floating on the breeze, tearing through dust blown up from the dry ground, past humming, blissfully oblivious insects. Time stopped. The air was peaceful and for a split second everything was perfect. Then in a moment it was over. In a moment the world shifted and in that moment the cool, smooth tip of the silver bullet reached its destination and that was the moment that Dean's heart stopped and what was left of his cracked and damaged soul crumbled like soft stone under foot.

"No..."

Dean raced forward as his deafening and prolonged scream ripped at Sam's heart as he took Dean's place at the edge of the clearing, eyes wide, horrified as he surveyed the hideous scene before him.

Dean was at the girl's side in an instant, the creature having vanished, taking off with a terrifying screech which no animal or human had any business hearing. The bullet had entered her shoulder, tearing through flesh and muscle and had come straight out the other side, a fact which Dean determined immediately but that came as no comfort. The girls eyes were wide and petrified, her screams ear splitting, betraying the excruciating pain exploding from her shoulder, looking to Dean begging him to help her. The shell shocked hunter took hold of her hands forgetting who he was and what he was supposed to do in a situation such as this. There was so much blood - it was everywhere, he touched her shoulder then her hair and her face but he couldn't remember what to do, and she was screaming so loudly and there was so much blood. He was falling fast and he felt cold, so cold and it was so quiet but he could hear her screams in his head but it was like he wasn't really there. The world was spinning and he was standing still but at the same time falling so fast. So much blood. On his hands. On her. On his clothes. On him. He was supposed to do something. Something. Where was Sam? Sam would know what to do.

Unable to find any words and his erratic breathing which had increased to a painful level, making it impossible to speak anyway, he simply held on to her trying to convey through his eyes that stung with unshed tears that he was sorry. So sorry.

I'm so sorry.

Sam ran across to join his brother who appeared to be in shock as Rick tended to the young boy who had started to regain consciousness.

Kneeling next to Dean and shaking him roughly he called his name but received no response. He needed to get Dean out of the way so that he could apply pressure to the wound but Dean wasn't there, he was somewhere else far away and Sam couldn't reach him. In desperation Sam shook his brother again, yelling loudly, wondering if Dean could even hear him above the girls screams, before firmly grabbing his face and turning it towards him to force eye contact.

"Dean! Look at me!" Dean's red rimmed eyes locked with his and in them Sam saw the sorrow, the fear, the horror and the crippling guilt, shame and regret that was threatening to sink him like a stone.

Sam softened his tone, "Dean, we have to stop the bleeding." Sam gently removed his hands from the girl's and Dean sat back allowing Sam some room. Pressing a cloth from the first aid kit into her shoulder and trying his best not to let the agonised cry that escaped the teenager's lips affect him, he turned to ask Rick for a bandage but Rick was already at his side along with the boy.

The teenager was shaken and dizzy but fully conscious as he knelt at his girlfriend's side tears streaming down his face. Taking hold of her hand he switched between attempting to comfort her and screaming hysterically at the three strangers who had just thrown his world into chaos.

"What did you do? What did you do?" his breathing heavy and eyes disturbingly wide, he glared at Dean both terrified and horrified and Dean simply stared at the girl a tear rolling down his cheek answering so matter of fact it sent a shiver like an icy cold, silver bullet, right through Sam.

"I shot her."

"What? What? You- you shot her? You shot her!" he looked down at the terrified girl, who's screaming had shifted to whimpering and hitched breaths muttering words unintelligible to the three men and one boy surrounding her.

The boy looked up again as if startled, scouring the area in which he knelt.

"What was that thing- it -it threw me- where did it go? What the hell was that?" he received no answer

"Why is there so much blood...Casey." he turned back to his girlfriend shaking and crying so uncontrollably the three men were at a loss as to what to do. So, Sam continued wrapping her shoulder, Rick got on his cell phone and Dean simply remained in his kneeling position staring at the girl who's life he had just torn apart, empty, hollow and falling faster and faster into oblivion.

He heard the boy's pleas but they didn't register, it was if he was underwater and he was being protected from the anguish and accusations that continued to spill from the distraught teenager.

"You shot her you- you son of a bitch. Casey. Casey hang on, just hang on. Please." he swiped at the tears on his face smearing blood across his cheek.

"Why did you have to shoot her? No-no-no-no Casey please. Please don't die. Casey." pushing back his girlfriend's dark hair he began to sob brokenly and it was at that moment Sam witnessed the girl's eyes roll back in her head, a visible sheen of sweat on her now deathly pale skin.

"She's going into shock."

Finishing off the bandage that was holding the cloth in place he turned to Rick, already on the phone speaking to the operator who was far too calm as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world to take a call for a girl who had just had a bullet put though her shoulder.

"We gotta go. Now. There's no way they can get to us in here." Sam started to lift the girl but was stopped by a fierce grip on his arm. Dean glared at his brother in a way that left no room for argument

"I'll carry her." his tone was fierce and terrifying but barely above a whisper and Sam conceded without even trying to dissuade his brother. Stepping back he allowed Dean to wrap his jacket around the trembling girl, gently lifting her into his arms and resting her head against his chest.

The boy reluctantly let go of his girlfriend's hand allowing Dean to take her before asking him tearfully:

"She's going to be ok right?" The pleading and what Dean saw as grossly misplaced trust and hope in his voice, ripped at Dean's insides and he was unable to look at him and simply whispered,

"It's nothing; she's going to be fine."

The small, unlikely group set off at an urgent pace back towards the road, Dean tearing through the forest at an alarming rate, apparently unhindered by the weight he was carrying. He didn't feel the heaviness and the burning in his chest. He didn't feel the ache in his back and arms from the load he carried. He was focused only on getting Casey to the road where someone who wasn't a complete screw up, someone who was actually capable of doing their job could take care of her and clear up the mess that he had made.

-----------------------------

Rick took the rear with Sam and the boy in the middle. They had switched between fast walking and running but the young boy was finding it difficult to keep up the pace and they had been forced to temporarily slow down while he got his breath back. Sam struggled to find something to say to him, some way of explaining why the three of them had just gate crashed their peaceful afternoon in the woods turning their lives upside down. He settled for an introduction hoping he could give some reassurance to the obviously traumatised and frightened teenager.

"What's your name kid?"

The boy had stopped crying but his voice was still thick from tears he had forced back, trying to be brave, trying to be strong for his Casey. He answered the man who walked briskly at his side as minimally as possible. He wasn't in the mood for small talk.

"Drew."

"I'm Sam. Drew, listen to me, your girlfriend's going to be alright, you hear."

"You don't know that. That son of a bitch shot her." the response was furious and accusing which caused Sam's anger to rise:

"That son of a bitch just saved her life!"

"Yeah? How do you figure?"

Sam shrugged calming his anger, "Trust me it's better you don't know."

"What's that supposed to mean? Why won't you tell me? What the hell was that thing?"

"Dean tried to kill it. He was trying to save your girlfriend."

"Yeah, bang up job, man."

"Yeah well they're kind of difficult to see." Sam said almost under his breath but the boy hadn't missed a thing.

"Quit screwing with me man, what the hell was that. It wanted to hurt Casey right?"

"It would have killed her."

"Yeah but what the hell was it?"

"Like I said you don't want to know." the boy suddenly stopped in front of Sam blocking his path.

"Don't you want to be with Casey when they take her? We need to keep moving!"

"That thing tried to kill my girl. I want to know what it is."

Sam stooped a little, taking the young boy by the shoulders.

"Listen to me; there are things out there that you can't possibly imagine. Things that you couldn't even dream about. And the things that you do dream about? The monsters in your closet that your mom told you weren't real? Well some of em are real." the boy looked at him in disbelief but warily all the same.

"You're shitting me right?" his eyes conveyed resentment and disgust but also a hint of fear. Fear that this wack job might be telling him the truth.

"I wish." Sam's face was grave, his glare piercing and unwavering.

Drew stared at him long and hard trying to work out if he was being played. Then shaking his head he asked:
"So you and your piss poor aim of a buddy up there; you really expect me to believe you hunt monsters for a living?"

Sam sighed.

"Actually he's my brother, and yeah - it's not much of a living - but it's a job."

The boy sniggered and pulled away shaking his head incredulously, continuing on through the woods.

"That is seriously messed up man."

Sam grimaced in agreement,

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Some way in front Dean pushed forward, ignoring the pain, ignoring the guilt that would only slow him down, ignoring the branches that scratched his face and the brambles that ripped at his ankles; he kept going because this was the only thing he could do for her now. The only thing he could give her was this. So he carried on, silently promising her he wouldn't stop until they reached the road, eyes forward unblinking, his face a mask betraying only a hint of the darkness that lay heavy in his soul.

TBC