He wasn't sure exactly what it was that roused him to consciousness; it could have been the sudden unbearable pain shooting up his side, or the horrified female voice screaming "STOP IT!" But more than likely it was Sammy's agonized cry of "LEAVE HIM THE FUCK ALONE!" that woke him. Because that would do it every time.
All it took was one tinny little peep out of Sammy and he was instantly awake. It had been like that since he was four, after their mother died. And it was still like that thirteen years later. All Sammy had to do was sigh, sniffle, whimper or moan and he'd be up and at his side in a flash.
Guess it worked when Sammy was pissed off too.
Although, he had to admit that he usually woke up feeling a lot better than he did now. And it had nothing to do with the fact that someone had just kicked him in the ribcage, because, based on the throbbing in his side, he was positive that was what had just happened. But the pain coming from his side wasn't the problem. He felt groggy and confused; his ears were ringing and he felt like he was going to be sick.
And he hadn't even opened his eyes yet.
Because something told him he shouldn't. Instinct warned him not to move a muscle; that he would be safer that way. At least until he figured out where he was and what was going on.
So Dean lay motionless with his eyes closed, breathing slowly and deeply. In order to make them believe he was still unconscious. He didn't want to give himself away until he could remember what had happened.
So he concentrated on assessing his situation until his memory kicked in…
Wherever he was, there was light: either daytime or he was inside.
There wasn't any breeze: must be inside.
He was lying on something cold and hard: possibly a wood floor.
He could sense a bunch of people hanging around: obviously not friends if the kick in the ribs was any indication.
And his head hurt like hell.
'So…where the fuck am I? And how did I end up like this?'
Then it slowly started coming back to him:
Going to get Sammy at school…
He wasn't there…
Talking to Jake…
Following Nancy to Grand Lake…
Breaking into the house…
Breaking outta the house…
Beating the crap outta Robin - the little chicken-shit.
Andy…
He hadn't been a problem…
Until…
'Aww, fuck! The poison from that goddamn Aswang!'
No wonder he'd passed out. There was still poison in his system. And Dad had warned him about that too: It'll probably affect you for the next few days. Especially if you overexert yourself. So try to take it easy and don't do anything stupid. D'hear me?...
…'Yeah…I heard ya. Didn't pay any attention…but I heard ya.'
Now all he had to do was figure a way out of this mess. Shouldn't be too hard. Even if there were five guys waiting to beat the shit outta him the minute they knew he was awake. That just meant that he'd have to think a bit harder to determine what he was going to do. Besides, he'd gotten outta tougher jams than this. Against tougher adversaries too.
The good thing was that no one had kicked him again, which, probably meant that they thought he was still out cold. Now all he had to do was make sure it stayed that way until they got tired of waiting around for him to wake up and they went somewhere else. Then he'd be able finish what he'd started.
Before he got Sammy the hell outta here.
Just then, Dean felt another agonizing blow to his side. This time he was positive that he had been kicked. He had to clench his teeth tightly to keep from screaming out from the pain or otherwise reacting to the pain. And it didn't take long for him to realize that at least one of the stitches had ripped open as he felt the unmistakable sensation of blood oozing down his back
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" yelled Sam furiously. "He wasn't even able to defend himself!"
"Shut-up," replied Andy insolently, before he addressed Robin. "Want me to try again? See if I can wake him up this time?"
"No, it's no use," stated Robin, sounding extremely displeased. "He's still out cold. No sense beating him up when he doesn't even know it's happening. We'll wait until he comes to." He addressed Rick as he nodded toward Sam, "Get him outta here. Take him to the next room. I don't want him hangin' around his brother anymore."
Dean could hear a slight scuffle ensue as someone ushered Sammy out of the room, but thankfully Sammy didn't protest too hard and end up causing himself more problems. One of them in this kind of predicament was enough.
"What are we gonna do with him?" came another male voice that Dean believed was Marty.
"Just leave him where he is," answered Robin. "He'll have to wake up sooner or later."
"OHMIGOD!" shrieked Nancy suddenly, pointing in Dean's direction.
Everyone in the room looked where she was pointing and saw blood seeping onto the floor all around Dean. At first no one moved as they watched the pool of blood spread slowly over the floor.
Nancy raced over to Dean and knelt beside him. She glared at Robin as she asked angrily, "What did you do to him?"
She lifted his shirt to see if she could determine why he was bleeding. As she stared at the discolored stitches that covered his back, her eyes widened and she let out a horrified gasp.
"What the fuck…?" questioned Robin as he stood over Nancy and stared down at Dean's prone form. Then he hastily turned to Andy and said, "Get her outta here!"
"What are you going to do to him?" asked Nancy again, alarm evident in her voice.
"Nothing you need to worry about," shot back Robin angrily before he impatiently addressed Andy, "I told you to get her outta here!"
"I'm not leaving until you tell me what you're going to do to him," replied Nancy firmly.
"Why?" asked Robin bitterly. "You still hoping he'll ask you to the prom?"
"Don't be such an ass," responded Nancy indignantly. "I just want you to tell me what you're going to do to him."
Robin didn't respond but instead glanced at Andy, raising his eyebrows to implore why he had yet to remove Nancy. Without another word, Andy grasped Nancy's shoulders and started to steer her out of the room.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" shouted Nancy as she tried to wiggle free from his grasp. But Andy wouldn't release her and she found herself being dragged into the hallway. Dean could hear Nancy protesting as Andy guided her down the stairs.
"Fuck!" exclaimed Robin irately. "There's blood all over the floor!" He turned to Marty and said, "Keep a close eye on him. Even if he is hurt, I still don't trust him. I'll be right back with something to clean up this mess. And whatever you do, don't let him out of your sight." And with that he stormed out of the room.
Dean realized that he was probably alone with Marty. Sammy had been escorted from the room – probably by Rick; Andy had taken Nancy downstairs and Robin had just left. The only other person unaccounted for was Eric and he was most likely still downstairs with the other girls.
Dean carefully opened one eye in order to ascertain exactly who his opponents might be. As he surveyed the room as much as his limited vision allowed without actually moving his head, he felt his shirt being lifted from behind and heard Marty's quiet exclamation of "Jeez" come from behind him. When his comment was met with silence, Dean deduced that it must be just the two of them in the room.
This was probably the best chance he was going to get.
Dean reached up, grabbed Marty's forearm and yanked Marty overtop of him. Marty had been caught completely off-guard and he tumbled to the floor in front of Dean. As he landed roughly on his hands and knees, Dean vaulted to his feet. In one swift, smooth movement, he wrenched Marty's arm backwards before jerking it violently upward, and causing Marty to spin around and fall flat on his back.
Before he had a chance to recover, Dean was on top of him. He knelt heavily on Marty's chest and quickly covered his mouth with his left hand. Without hesitation, Dean struck him in the jaw with a powerful right hook, knocking Marty out cold. Dean hurriedly dragged Marty into the corner so Robin wouldn't see him when he opened the door.
Dean stood up and he immediately felt the dizziness return. He rested both hands on his knees and momentarily closed his eyes. He took a few deep breaths to try to steady himself but he knew he didn't have a lot of time. Robin should be returning at any minute.
Dean felt weak and both mentally and physically exhausted. He knew his strength was being drained by more than just the Aswang's poison. Dean wiped his hand across his back and was surprised at the amount of blood that came back with it. He realized that, if the bleeding didn't stop soon, loss of blood would his biggest worry; even more so than Robin or Andy. If he wasn't careful, he was likely to pass out again but it was already too late to do anything about it because he could hear footsteps coming down the hall. Dean took one last deep breath before he carefully straightened himself up and was relieved to discover that much of the vertigo had subsided.
At least for right now.
He positioned himself behind the door and waited. He watched the doorknob turn and the door open. As soon as Robin began to walk through the doorway, Dean seized his arm and spun him completely around the door. Dean kicked the door shut while he flung his foe into the wall face first. Now that he had him pinned tightly to the wall, Dean pushed his forearm into his back to further immobilize him. Dean took a step closer and was surprised at what he saw.
Andy.
He had been expecting Robin. And knowing that Robin was by far a weaker rival than Andy, he had only prepared himself mentally to take on Robin. Not that he couldn't adjust. Hell, he'd been doing that all his life.
But it was a bit harder to do when he had poison cursing through his veins – and blood steadily flowing out of them. Still, he had ambushed Andy and currently had him pinned tightly to the wall. Maintaining control shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as he could keep the dizziness at bay.
Andy struggled violently and tried to push himself off the wall with his hands. But Dean leaned into him, keeping him firmly nailed to the wall. He reached up and grabbed a fistful of Andy's hair. Pulling forcefully on his hair, Dean wrenched his head backwards. Andy bellowed, "You Bastard!" before Dean was able to slam his head vehemently forward into the wall. The blow knocked Andy unconscious and Dean slowly eased him to the floor.
So much for the tough guy.
Dean knew that Andy's cry would have alerted Robin to the fact that something was amiss. But he wouldn't be expecting his bodyguard to be out cold so soon and would probably come running in expecting to see Dean on the receiving end of a severe beating.
Can't be right all the time.
Dean boosted himself off the floor, only to find himself extremely lightheaded. His legs were wobbly and he had to lean against the wall for support. As he tired to steady himself, Dean was glad that he had already disposed of Andy. Now he just had to hold it together long enough to deal with Robin and Eric.
Not that Robin was much of a problem. He could probably scare the shit outta him just by looking at him. But he did seem to gain a little bit of confidence whenever a member of his entourage was around. But, from what little Dean knew about Eric, he wasn't overly worried about him either.
His biggest concern was Rick. Because Rick had Sammy. And Rick had a knife. And from what Dean had observed earlier, he seemed more than eager to use it. So Dean had to play his cards right to make sure that nothing happened to Sam.
He was still trying to clear his head and regain some of his strength when he noticed the door open. As he lay in wait behind the door, Eric walked hesitantly into the room with his arms spread wide, palms facing forward. Dean resisted the urge to pounce on him, knowing that, at the moment, he was in no shape to take on another opponent. And, based on Eric's demeanor, it didn't appear that he really wanted to tangle with him either.
Might as well save his strength until he really needed it.
"Robin wants you to join him in the kitchen," stated Eric.
"He does?" replied Dean, a hint of danger in his voice. "And why should I do that?"
"Because your brother's down there with him."
That was all it took for Dean's reluctance to fade. He pushed himself away from the wall and approached Eric menacingly.
His eyes were as cold and grey as steel as he stated, "Don't even think of trying anything or you'll end up just like your two friends over there," and he motioned to the immobile forms of Andy and Marty.
Eric gulped down a lump in his throat before he replied, "Hey, I got no beef with you. Robin just told me to come and get you, that's all."
Well then," responded Dean icily as he gestured toward the door, "After you."
Eric preceded Dean down the stairs and when he stepped onto the main floor, he tried to dash away. But Dean grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him back toward him.
Dean whispered dangerously in his ear, "Not so fast, Bennett. I'm a little shy, you know, and I hate walking into places all alone. So you're gonna stay right in front of me."
He didn't relinquish his hold on Eric's shirt as he steered him toward the kitchen. When they neared the kitchen, Dean saw Sammy sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with Rick standing behind him. One of Rick's hands was on Sammy's shoulder while the other one held the pocketknife steadily at his cheek. Dean pulled Eric to an abrupt halt and glanced around the kitchen looking for Robin. He found him sitting nonchalantly on the kitchen table swinging his legs.
"What the fuck are you planning to do now, Leavey?" asked Dean, choosing to cut directly to the chase.
"I think I'll let my little brother start carving your brother a new face," taunted Robin maliciously.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," threatened Dean as he advanced slowly into the kitchen, keeping a tight hold on Eric.
"And why not?" questioned Robin innocently.
"Because payback can be a real bitch," warned Dean.
"Is that so?" responded Robin. "Because I think I could say the same thing to you."
"And how's that?"
"Well, seems to me that you owe me some sort of retribution for taking my girlfriend out. And making me look like a fool in front of the whole school."
"You don't need my help with that," replied Dean wryly. "You do a great job all on your own. And, as far as Nancy goes, maybe if you weren't such an asshole, she wouldn't have been so eager to jump ship for the first guy who came along."
"Well, then I guess it's too bad for you that you were the first guy to come along," acknowledged Robin. "Or, I suppose it's really too bad for Sam. 'Cause he's the one who's gonna pay for his big brother's indiscretion."
Robin glanced at Rick and very slightly nodded his head. At his brother's signal, Rick swiftly grabbed Sam's hair, pulled his head back and, without hesitating, slashed the blade of the knife across Sammy's cheek. Sam winced against pain, but Rick held him still.
Dean grew more incensed as he watched the paper-thin cut fill with blood and slowly begin to trickle down Sammy's cheek. He had advanced close enough to Robin that, when he pushed Eric away from him, he fell against the table with enough force that it wobbled profoundly and knocked Robin from his perch.
As both boys struggled to regain their balance, Dean sprinted over to Rick and seized his wrist. He twisted Rick's arm sideways until he released the knife and it tumbled to the floor. In his efforts to maintain control of the knife, Rick had inadvertently let go of Sam's hair. Sam jumped up from the chair just as Robin lunged at Dean. Sam tried to prevent him from reaching his brother by stepping between them, but the momentum of Robin's leap combined with his added weight and height, simply knocked Sam out of the way.
Dean was still holding onto Rick as Robin launched himself onto Dean's back. Dean staggered forward, releasing Rick's arm as he tried to deal with the impact. After stumbling forward a few steps, Dean planted his legs firmly on the floor and reached up and over his shoulders. He latched onto Robin's arms at the same time as he rapidly bent forward, catapulting Robin onto the floor in front of him.
Dean, having supplanted Robin from his back, stood up only to be grabbed from behind by Eric. The physical exertion was beginning to take its toll on him and he was having more and more trouble retaining his focus. But his warrior instincts kicked in and he ducked just in time to avoid the wild punch that Eric had hurled at him. Having failed to connect with his target, Eric was thrown off-balance and Dean responded with a tenacious uppercut to his abdomen. Eric doubled-over from the force of the blow and Dean quickly grabbed the waistband of his jeans, tossing him on top of Robin.
Meanwhile, Rick was attempting to pick the pocketknife up off the floor. As he bent to retrieve it, Sam kicked it out of the way. Rick stood up, anger evident in his eyes. But his fury was matched equally by the rage manifested in Sam's expression. Rick swung at Sam but Sam avoided his punch by agilely stepping out of the way. Sam leaned onto his left leg, hoisted his right leg and planted an extremely strong kick right under Rick's ribcage.
The kick knocked the wind out of him, and Rick staggered backwards, stopping only when he crashed into the refrigerator. Sam advanced on him, his fists poised and ready. He may not have been the most exuberant fighter, but he was well-trained and proficient. Especially when he had to be. He jabbed out with his left hand, hitting Rick squarely in the jaw. The force of the impact reverberated up Sam's arm and into his wounded shoulder. He ignored the pain to the best of his ability, not wanting to reveal his weakness to his nemesis. But his shoulder had not completely healed and Sam knew that he was in danger of dislocating it again if he kept fighting.
Sam's aggressive attack caught Rick by surprise. He hadn't seriously considered that Sam would be able to fight. His compliant manner at school coupled with the ferocity of Dean's protectiveness had led him to believe that Sam would be an easy target. But now he found himself on the receiving end of a ferocious attack with Sam more than capable of defending himself.
Rick moved uneasily away from the fridge, trying to distance himself from Sam. But Sam matched his movements, staying with him but remaining just out of his reach. He wanted to exhaust Rick by taunting and outmaneuvering him, knowing that with an injured shoulder and a broken wrist, he was not physically capable of fighting him outright.
Rick glanced at his brother, now sprawled on the floor with Eric on top of him. Realizing that he wasn't going to get any help from Robin, Rick lunged at Sam, hoping to use his weight to pin him down. But, once again, Sam sidestepped him and as Rick landed against the counter, Sam lashed out with his leg, kicking him in the back of the knee. Rick's legs buckled and he found himself on his knees in front of the counter. He pulled himself up and turned to face Sam.
But Sam had had enough of both Rick and the fight. He was ready to end it once and for all. As Rick turned toward him, Sam swung out viciously with his right arm, cracking Rick squarely in the temple with his cast, shattering it on impact. Rick immediately crumbled to the floor where he was reduced to a motionless heap.
Sam spun around in time to see both Robin and Eric getting up from the floor. One quick look at his brother told him that something was wrong and he knew that Dean would need his help. He crossed the floor and stood beside Dean, ready to help him take on the other boys. Although Dean was addled and a bit shaky, one quick glance at Sam revealed the shattered cast and he recognized simply by looking at his brother's stance that his shoulder was hurting him again.
"Sam," stated Dean breathlessly, "You can't do this. Not while you're hurt"
"Neither can you," came the terse determined response.
Dean knew that his brother was right; right now he just couldn't take on both Robin and Eric, regardless of his fighting skills. He just didn't have the energy.
The commotion had brought the four girls from the living room, all of them wondering what was happening. They ran into the kitchen only to stop abruptly when they came upon the melee. They stared in shock at the scene if front of them.
Nancy noticed Rick lying on the kitchen floor and ran over to him. As she cradled his head in her lap, she shouted out, "STOP! JUST STOP ALREADY! THIS HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH!"
But the four remaining participants were too engrossed in what they were doing to acknowledge her. They circled each other menacingly and slowly made their way toward the kitchen table.
As they proceeded into the main eating area, Dean threw himself at Robin. He found that the longer he stood, the worse his vision got and he knew that he was only moments away from losing consciousness. Based on that perception, he decided that he would be better to overtake Robin than to attempt to fend him off.
As Dean lunged toward him, Robin jumped backwards. But he slipped on a small puddle of forgotten blood and slammed against the table. In an instant, Dean was on top of him, pulling him to the floor. While attempting to straddle his adversary, Dean's knee slid in another patch of blood and he ended up diagonally across Robin. Robin tried in vain to scramble out from under him but Dean's weight held him down. Realizing the futility of his efforts, Robin lambasted Dean across the side of his head with a left hook.
Had he been more of a skilled combatant, the punch probably would have knocked Dean out. But it only succeeded in further inciting his anger and, although he felt extremely lightheaded and his vision was blurry, Dean managed to pull himself up and swing his right leg overtop of Robin's body. Dean immediately let loose with a series of close-fisted volleys to Robin's head, only easing up when Nancy's anguished cry of "DEAN! STOP!" filtered slowly into his brain. Her distressed sob brought him back to reality and he looked down at his hapless victim; Robin was out-cold.
Dean looked over at Sam, who was still engaged in a tough battle with Eric. The older teen towered over Sam and his advantage in both size and weight spurred him on. Still, Sam was holding his own, carefully avoiding an all-out confrontation. Sam had managed to avoid slipping in any of the blood spots that covered the kitchen floor. They had jabbed and poked at each other with Sam mostly defending himself until he found an opportunity to land either an unanswered punch or thrust a powerful kick at Eric. They had jostled themselves around the large room and, just as Dean ended his assault on Robin, Sam tripped over Rick's prone body.
Eric moved in and snagged Sam by the shirt. But Dean shot straight for them as soon as he saw his brother fall. He grabbed Eric around the neck and pulled him away from Sam before the dizziness caused him to stagger backwards and he rammed into the stove. Dean increased the pressure on Eric's neck as he struggled to remain conscious.
"Either quit now and go comfort your girlfriend," threatened Dean with an air of confidence he didn't quite feel, "Or I'll snap your neck in half."
Thankfully Eric raised his hands and willfully surrendered, not wanting to challenge Dean and his brother any longer. Sam had gotten to his feet and stood directly in front of Eric, poised to take him on if he ignored his brother's ultimatum. But, as Dean hesitantly released his hold on him, Eric was more than happy to sprint away and join the girls who, with the exception of Nancy, were still standing in the doorway.
His energy spent, Dean listlessly sunk to the floor, his eyes closed. Sam quickly breached the distance between them and knelt beside his brother.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern.
"Yeah," answered Dean unenthusiastically. "I'll be okay. But we gotta get outta here."
Heather had wandered cautiously over to them and stated, "You can't go anywhere like that."
"Dean opened his eyes and looked at her. He tried to smile as he said, "Well, I'm not stayin' for Round 2, that's for sure."
Heather had insisted that Dean let her check out his injuries before he leave because there was still blood dripping from his back. With Nancy's help, they found some gauze bandages and used them to cover the open stitches on Dean's back. When they had finished, Dean stood up with Sam's help and together they departed the house, leaving the girls to tend to the other boys and clean up the mess.
When they arrived at the Impala, Dean slid slowly into the driver's seat. He leaned back in the seat as Sam walked around the car and opened the passenger door.
As he got in, Sam glanced at his brother and asked, "You gonna be okay to drive?"
"Don't have much choice," responded Dean as he sat up in the seat and started the car. "I'm sure as hell not waiting around here until I feel better."
"Maybe I could drive," suggested Sam.
"Drive my car? Without a license? In the middle of nowhere? I don't think so," replied Dean incredulously as he drove onto the road.
"It was just a suggestion," came the irritated response from Sam. "It's not like you haven't let me drive before."
"Yeah, well, that was in the daylight," countered Dean, "And you didn't have a broken wrist or any injured shoulder."
"At least I'm not in any danger of passing out."
Dean glanced at Sam and stated firmly, "I'll be fine."
"Sure you will," mumbled Sam as he stared out the side window.
They drove down the county road in complete silence, both of them too battle-weary to speak.
But as Dean turned the Impala onto the highway, he suddenly broke the silence.
"Ahh…Sammy?"
"What?" replied Sam gruffly.
"I think maybe you shoulda driven," uttered Dean before he slumped forward, his body pressed into the steering wheel.