i want to thank everyone again for the wonderful reviews, i hope you are all still enjoying the story. :) let me know.
D: Nope, i still dont own supernatural, that belongs to greater minds then mine :).
SOMETHING LOST
Chapter 19
Kerri walked on through the heavy darkness of the second tunnel, the silence falling around her like a suffocating blanket, hiding her away from the rest of the world. Her flashlight illuminated the gloom like nothing more then a dying candle, the black void encroaching upon the dim light, large shadows dancing on the low walls, tricking her already tired mind. She needed to finish this as fast as possible, needed to find the bones and burn them, to repay Dean, to save him after he had saved so many.
The rotted wooden struts creaked and moaned above her as dirt cascaded down from the crumbling ceiling. She could feel the mines closing in on her, feel the air rush from her lungs, the darkness snaking around her soul. It was almost unbearable, her heart skipping as icy fingers danced their way up and down her spine, brushing away the hairs on the back of her neck. And she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, followed. She fought to keep herself calm, to keep her mind from drifting back to that dark forest, to that night nearly seventeen years before, the night the watcher took here, when a sudden sound made her stop.
"Sam?" She turned, shinning the light behind her, searching the shadows, but there was no sign of the younger hunter. She peered into the dark for a few more minutes, her blue eyes sharp as she challenged the darkness, daring the spirits to make their presence known. "Yeah." She sighed, turning back to the tunnel. "This was a smart idea."
She clicked the radio a few times, suddenly desperate to hear the brothers' voices, needing some sense of comfort, some link to life beyond the void. It had been so long since she had seen them, so long since she had smiled, felt whole, felt alive, and now she was facing the reality of having it all taken away, ripped from her arms just like her sister was. And the thought of being truly alone sent chills racing through her body. She needed the brothers far more then they would ever know.
"Sam, Dean? Come in." But her eager ears were met by nothing more then mocking static. "Sam? Can you hear me?"
"Crap." Kerri looked between the mouth of the tunnel and the beckoning gloom of the long shaft, her mind telling her to turn back while her heart told her to keep going. This was Dean's only chance. She tightened her grip on the shotgun and shifted the bag on her shoulder before turning back to the oblivion and walking straight into the darkness, Dean's safety the only thought in her mind.
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Sam sat in the salt circle, his brother's head leaning heavily on his shoulder as the younger man stared out into the darkness, listening for some sign of Kerri. His heart beat fast as he scanned the shadows, hand tight on his shotgun. He should never have let her go alone, he should have made her stay with Dean, searched the tunnels himself. His mind had been so focused on his brother, his every thought trained on helping him, on keeping him safe, that he hadn't fully understood what Kerri said until she was gone.
"Sammy?" Dean's weak voice brought Sam back to his senses, his dark brown eyes looking down into his brother's fevered green ones. He had been drifting in and out of consciousness, the infection growing within him as they sat in the cold darkness. Time was running short, and the younger Winchester knew it.
"I'm here, Dean."
"I'm freezing."
"Sorry." Sam whispered as he pulled off his own jacket, wrapping it around his older brother's pale and trembling body, thankful that the spirit had not attacked him again.
"Don't want it." Dean mumbled as he tried to push Sam's jacket off of him, the younger hunter holding it firmly in place. He was alarmed to see how weak his brother really was, how much the ordeal had taken from him. Dean was the strongest person he knew, hell the bravest, too. He never let anything keep him down, and now, seeing him so weak, so reliant on him made the younger Winchester's heart ache. It wasn't fair.
"You're cold, take it."
"No, don't want you to get cold."
"I'm fine."
"Don't wan' it, Sammy."
"Too bad."
"I'm bigger."
"Actually, you're not."
"Jerk." Dean mumbled finally giving up his fight, shooting his little brother childish scowls as he sunk beneath the warm fabric, leaning further into the younger man as his body searched for comfort. Something was missing though, something was supposed to be there that wasn't, but he couldn't place it, he just knew that something was lost.
It was a feeling he had had for years, like an idea dancing at the edge of thought, a shadow always just out of focus, a horizon always just beyond his reach. He always knew there was something missing, something always lacking, something lost.
"Where's Kerri?" That was it, finally, that was it. She had been lost, missing, needing to be found, to be kept safe. It was Kerri all along, always there, lurking in the corners of his mind, waiting one day for him to return. He had let her down, failed her, but still she waited, still she greeted him with open arms, welcomed back not only him, but his family, after so many years of distant silence. She was something constant, something permanent, something grounding, real. But now, she was missing.
"Uh."
"Where is she?" Dean asked in a slight panic, his fevered and delirious mind drifting back to that long gone night, falling back into that still, silent forest; that horrible, lonely twilight all those years ago. He shivered again as the memory washed over him, dug into him, drained a little more of his waning strength. And the thought of it all happening again was too much for him.
"She went to check the first two tunnels."
"Alone!"
"There weren't many other options."
"Damn it, Sammy. Why'd you let her go?"
"We needed to find those bones. What are you doing?" Sam looked at his brother in panicked bewilderment, Dean pushing himself up on shaky legs, jaw set, eyes dangerously focused, all signs of fatigue momentarily gone. He was a man on a mission, his own sickness, his own failing body pushed aside, given away for someone in need of help, someone he felt he had to save.
"Gonna get her."
"You can't."
"Try and stop me."
"Just stay here, all right, I'll get her."
"On what planet do you think that would happen?"
"Dean!"
"Come on, Sammy... need my sidekick." Dean mumbled with a smirk, his high fever beginning to take control once more. He blinked and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, his little brother's tall frame catching him as the motion sent him falling to the ground.
"I'm not your sidekick." Sam stated as he steadied Dean on his feet, wrapping an arm around his waist as he pulled his brother's loose limb over his shoulder. Dean was suddenly more like a talking sack of potatoes then a hunter.
"Super Dean and geek-boy?"
"No."
"Why not."
"Because it's stupid."
"Party crasher. You just don't wanna wear tights."
"You're right, there."
"Come on, we're a good team." Dean smiled up at his brother, blinking again to try and clear his vision. He could see shadows all around him, calling to him, begging for him to follow. And, had it not been for Sam's strong grip, he would have obeyed. He couldn't explain it, but the shadows seemed to want him.
"We can be a good team and not be super heroes."
"What super power do you want?"
"Uh." Sam rolled his eyes as he lead his brother down into the tunnel, his body tense, eyes sharp as he scanned the darkness, unable to shake the feeling that he was being followed. "Invisible."
"Oh, little Sammy wants to sneak in the girls locker room."
"Dude, there are other reasons to be invisible."
"Don't need any others."
"So, what would you're power be?" Sam asked, as Dean began to slump forward, his eyes drifting closed.
"Fly." He mumbled, his voice barely more then a low whisper.
"What?"
"I'd fly."
"Why?"
"Because, it's free up there. No one to bug me."
"Dean--." He didn't know what to say. He knew that the fever was making his older brother bear his heart, mumble things that a completely coherent Dean would never let the world know, but he didn't care. Sure, his brother would deny it till he was blue later, but right now he was being honest and open, and it was something Sam desperately needed.
He was all he had left in the world, their small family shattered, their father so absorbed in his revenge that he had little time for anything else. But Dean, well, Sam knew that Dean would always be there, no matter what. Relying on Dean was like waiting for the sun to rise; it would always be there, every day, forever, chasing away the darkness with a warm, unending light.
"I wouldn't stay up there forever." Dean quickly added, almost as though he could sense what Sam was about to say. "Just for a little while. Just to relax. And, you know, look down on ladies tanning in their backyards."
"I knew there was a motive."
"Always is. Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"How long ago did Kerri leave?"
"About an hour, hour and a half. But, I spoke to her on the radio about twenty minutes ago, when she finished searching the first tunnel." Sam added quickly, feeling Dean's shoulders tense.
"Nothing since?"
"No, but, Dean, I'm sure she's fine."
"And what if she's not? What if something happened to her and I wasn't there?"
"Dean--."
"I can't, Sammy, I can't let her get hurt again, I won't. You didn't find her in those woods, you didn't see her. I can't let that happen again, I can't see her like that again."
"Ok... Ok. We'll find her." Sam spoke softly as he steadied his brother, taking on still more of the ailing man's weight. He just hoped to god that he was right, he didn't know what he would do if they couldn't find her in time.
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Kerri continued on through the darkness, her mind racing, heart beating faster with each shaky step. This was wrong, everything was just wrong, but she wouldn't let herself stop. Dean had been there for her far to many times to back down now. She slowed to a stop, her body tense, ears trained, listening to what she hoped she had not hear. But, there is was again, growing slowly from behind her, coming through the darkness. She could feel the breath catching in her throat as the rocks and dirt crunched under a heavy foot, an odd dragging, gasping sound echoing through the darkness surrounding her, moving closer to her with each passing moment.
She shut off her light and carefully pulled herself back against the wall, hiding her slim frame in the shadowed cracks along the rocky surface, trying her best to blend in with the darkness. Something was coming, creeping up from the black void, stalking her. She held her breath as the sounds grew, an odd flicking light shinning down the path before her, flashing and dancing like fire. She calmed herself with one final breath before tightening her grip and stepping out into the light, shotgun poised and ready.
"Holy sh--." Sam gasped as he pulled his brother to the ground, kicking out at his attacker, catching the intruder in the knee as he rolled to cover Dean. He pulled his shotgun up as she shielded his brother, scanning the area with the dim light that his fallen flashlight cast, searching for some sign of the attacker. But, instead of seeing an angry spirit looming before him he saw Kerri, laying on her back rubbing her knee, shotgun discarded at her side.
"Damn it."
"Kerri?"
"Sam?"
"Oh my god, you scared the crap out of me." Sam let out a long breath as he fell onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, willing his heartbeat to slow.
"What were you doing sneaking up behind me?"
"We came to save you." Sam answered sheepishly, pulling Kerri back to her feet before turning to Dean, who was leaning against the wall, a stupid grin on his face.
"See, that's why you're the sidekick."
"Bite me."
"What are you two really doing down here?" Kerri asked as Dean's head fell back against the wall, green eyes glazed over with fever.
"We came to get you." Dean answered weakly, Sam scanning the tunnel with his light, his deep brown eyes searching for any signs of the spirit. He knew he should have been grateful, that his tense and tired body should have relaxed once he found Kerri, but he couldn't shake the awful feeling the was slowly growing in the pit of his stomach, the thought that something was very wrong. This thing had been attacking Dean on and off for days, threatening to rip his big brother away from him, burn him to a crisp while he slept. But now, now they were in the mines and nothing was happening, nothing was coming to attack. No, now they were catching their breath after nearly shooting each other, and Dean was laughing. And suddenly, everything clicked in the younger man's mind. It was a trap.
"We have to go, now." Everything was too easy, the hunt too straightforward. This was a trap, and they had all walked right into it.
"We gotta burn the bones." Kerri protested, her eyes glued on Sam. She could sense his unease and it terrified her. She had been looking at it all as a simple salt and burn, a simple hunt, but things were quickly spiraling out of control.
"We'll come back."
"Sam?" Dean's head lolled as he looked up at his brother, Sam standing before him, bracing to pull him off the cold ground.
Sam froze as he stared at his brother, Dean's breath coming out in small puffs of frosted vapors, the temperature in the cavern dropping fast. It was now or never. "Come on, Dean, we gotta go. Kerri, get your stuff, we're moving."
But it was already too late, the trio not even being able to take one step before both Sam and Kerri's flashlights flickered then died, plunging them into darkness, Dean's weak voice the only sound in the cold air.
"I hate it when that happens."