A/N: Forgot to mention: Don't own 'em just giving them a hard time! Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Enjoy the start of the action in this next chapter.
Chapter 3
Sam and Dean got their bags from the Impala and made their way to the cabin closest to Brit's house. Sam went inside and gave another low whistle. The inside of the cabin was the same wooden walls as outside but everything was sanded smooth and glowed with a coat of polyurethane. The furniture, from the overstuffed chairs to the two double beds, was new looking and matched perfectly. An actual desk stood in the corner of the room with a swivel office chair in front of it. Sam dropped his bag on his usual bed and immediately pulled his laptop out, booting it up. Dean dropped his bag at the foot of his bed and went out to the car again, returning shortly with the weapons bag. He sat down to clean the shotguns for tomorrow while Sam hammered furiously away at the keyboard.
"Huh." Sam said sometime later. Dean had finished with the guns and was leaning back against the knotty pine headboard.
"What'd you find?"
"I remembered from the video that the trail in the ravine bottom looked blocked by boulders. I checked some local reference material and it shows a detailed layout of the road General Braddock used. There were no blockages, even though it was a winding trail. Those rocks moved recently somehow. Remind me to ask Brit about that. I found something else though. Apparently there was a small mutiny among the soldiers. Some of the more injured, tired ones tried to get Braddock to stop and allow them to rest. One soldier, Jonathan Murphy, was more outspoken than the others. Braddock charged him with treason and killed him on the trail. Get this, he ran Murphy through with his own bayonet. Ordered to other soldiers to let the body lay for the scavengers. Said anyone who tried to get near the body would be charged also. Then he told them if they wanted to rest they would stay right there. Braddock ordered a halt and forced the company to stay with a decomposing body in their midst for three days." Sam closed the laptop and moved to his bed. Pulling sweats from his bag, he went to the bathroom to change. He took off his flannel but left his t-shirt on. He heard Dean rattle off a question as he came back out the out.
"So that's enough to make a pissed off spirit, but what woke it up after two hundred and fifty two years?
"I see someone remembers basic math from school." Sam quipped.
"Shut up, Sasquatch." Dean said, pulling the pillow from behind his back and chucking it at Sam. Sam returned the pillow with a whip of his own and hit Dean in the face with it. Dean pulled it off his head and looked at Sam. "I guess we didn't piss her off. You really wanna see if she'll rent us a couple bikes after the hunt?"
"It'd be different." Sam said with a hopeful note to his voice. Dean nodded. Dean slid under the covers and was soon asleep. Sam slept too, for the first time not really bothered by his dreams.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The next morning sunlight streamed through the windows and woke Sam. He rolled over in bed to find Dean already up. Sam glanced at his watch. 7:30. He bolted from the bed and quickly changed from his sweats to the jeans he wore yesterday, throwing on a clean t-shirt and gray flannel. He pulled on his hiking boots and left the cabin. He found Dean outside the cabin, coffee in hand, watching the sun glitter off the new leaves. The peace that enveloped Sam when he watched Dean enjoying his moment was interrupted by car doors slamming. The sisters were loading up to leave and appeared to be in a hurry. They had their bikes strapped to the trailer behind their SUV, and were loading riding gear and clothes into the back of the blue Jeep.
Brit came out of her house with two travel mugs and a disposable covered dish. She made her way to the girls, Kody at her side. Dean and Sam watched her talk to the girls, who made several agitated gestures and they got into their vehicle and took off, spinning gravel out of the lot. Sam and Dean watched on as Brit slowly made her way to their side.
"What happened, Brit?"
"They went out early this morning on two of my quads to watch the sunrise from the rocks at the top of the mountain. They saw the spirit and freaked. It shot at them and flattened one of the tires on the bike. She jumped onto her sister's bike and they barely made it back here. They couldn't get out fast enough. If they talk, they'll shut me down and my dad will lose his apartment. We have to find that spirit and put it down."
"Whoa there. You're not goin' with us." Dean said.
"The hell I'm not! This is my land. You two may be good hunters but there's a lot more than ghosts to watch out for in these woods. There are ravines, gullies, hidden caves and holes that were covered by last years leaf fall. You two couldn't find your way out of a wet paper bag on top of that mountain! I'm going and that's final." She stepped up to face Dean. Although a couple inches shorter she challenged him head on, poking him in the chest with a slender finger. "I protect what's mine. You're on my land, you're under my protection. I wouldn't want you two sulfur sniffers to wind up bear bait."
Dean looked at Sam and caught him barely suppressing the urge to roll with laughter. Brit looked at Dean and then Sam, Sam instantly burying the smile with a look of respect. "Get yourselves inside and get something to eat. We're leaving in an hour." Brit turned and walked up to her cabin, Kody keeping pace beside her clearly agitated figure. Sam rolled with laughter after the door banged shut and Dean pouted while rubbing at his chest with a hand. Sam laughed harder and Dean punched him in the arm. Sam jogged onto the porch and opened the door. Dean shoved his way though making Sam stumble in the process. Dean snorted a laugh and went to find Brit in the kitchen. She glared at Dean and handed Sam a plate heaped with scrambled eggs, sausage, toast and a bowl of homemade oatmeal. Dean's mouth watered and Brit stood there looking at him. His face fell and she smiled, handing him his plate and bowl heaped the same as Sam's. "That'll teach you." She said. She took her own plate and sat down with them on the third stool. Kody curled up at her feet.
Sam looked at the huge dog, taking a bite of his breakfast. "He's a good pup. How long have you had him?"
"Six years. I got him after I took over for my dad here. It gets lonely this far back in the woods. He also lets me know when something is around that shouldn't be."
They finished eating in silence and Sam and Dean followed Brit into the living room where she had a fully stocked backpack. "I'm gonna go get our gear, Sammy."
Sam nodded and waited for Dean to leave, shutting the door behind him. "Are you sure you want to go with us. It might be… weird to see that spirit."
"I've seen it Sam. It killed my Aunt. I didn't know how to kill it then. I'm hoping you do now."
"Oh, wow. I'm sorry. What happened?"
"I was with her. We were hiking last summer, and we were out after sunset. In the summer the breeze blows under the trees, even on the most unbearable days the evenings are so nice. We were on the trail and it came outta nowhere. My aunt pushed me away when she saw it and she drew it to her instead. She knocked me down behind a fallen tree. The fall winded me pretty bad. When my head stopped spinning I'd seen that she had apparently ran to the edge of a deeper ravine at the end of the trail and it appeared in front of her. I sat up in time to see it stab her with the bayonet on the end of the flintlock. It wouldn't have been fatal. It hit her high in the shoulder. She flinched and cried out and the spirit pulled the blade out of her and she staggered backwards when it pulled free. She fell to the bottom of the ravine. The fall broke her neck. I hoped I imagined this after I had nothing else happen, but now…" Brit's voice trailed off and she turned from Sam and stared out the window.
"God, Brit. I'm really sorry."
"I can see why you want to stop this thing then." Dean said from the doorway where he stood with the weapons pack at his feet and his favorite shotgun in his hand. Brit turned to look at Dean, a hard glint coming to her normally soft brown eyes.
"You're damn right I do."
"Let's go then."
Brit grabbed her pack and put it on her shoulders, reaching for her rifle. She took off out the door and the guys followed. She led the way to a black trail rig. It was a old Ford Bronco. A small four wheel drive with huge tires and a good six inch lift. It had a roll cage inside and racing seats with safety harnesses. Brit stored her rifle and pack in a steel box that was welded to the frame at the back of the impressive rig. Dean followed suit with the weapons bag and his shotgun. Dean looked skeptically at Brit as she made her way to the driver's seat of the vehicle.
She grinned. "I learned to drive in this rig. Trust me." Sam took shotgun with only a hard swallow to belie the fact that he was nervous about going up the sheer side of a mountain in the seriously lifted big black truck. Brit fastened her harness and the guys watched, soon following suit and making sure theirs were adjusted to fit snuggly. Brit picked up a two way radio and tapped the comm. button, sending a shrill beep out over the airwaves. "Mountain Climber to Sky Watch. You in?"
"Sky Watch here. What's goin' on Brit?"
"I'm going up the mountain with those guys I told you about."
"Good luck guys. Put that thing to rest so my wife can rest knowing our favorite niece is safe in the woods she won't give up on. Sky Watch on alert and out."
"Mountain Climber on the move." Brit replied and tapped the comm. button again. She fired a powerful engine that had a tone Dean had to marvel at. For a seventies something model Ford it sounded good. Brit hit a button on the dash and the vehicle gained another two inches of height and became more flexible as air was delivered to various shocks on the chassis of the truck.
She shifted the truck into first gear and circled the house from the lot. She led them to a trail and began to climb up the mountain. It was steep but the Bronco took it well. In several places Brit steered to put one tire or another up against huge boulders and proceeded to climb over them. The Bronco had heavy steel runners beneath it, protecting the body from impact on rocks. The truck made a metal to stone grinding sound and the rear tire climbed over the rock. The truck hit hard on the other side, air equalizing in the shocks that eased the impact. Sam looked over the edge of the windowless door and marveled.
"This thing has amazing articulation." He said over the noise of the engine. Brit grinned and yelled over the rumble of metal to rock.
"Eighty degrees. I designed it and had a friend build it. He normally only does custom Chevy work but he helped me out." Sam cast his eyes ahead and paled. The top was approaching and the angle changed drastically, appearing to jut out at the vehicle.
"Uh, Brit? You've done this before?" He asked with another hard swallow.
"Lotsa times. Hang on guys." Brit shifted gears and the truck gained momentum. It lurched forward and into the dip that started the protrusion of the mountain peak. The truck began crawling and Sam resisted the urge to lean forward, instead choosing to grip the edges of his seat tightly and close his eyes. The truck rumbled up over the peak and Brit applied the brakes, bringing it to a stop. She glanced wordlessly at Sam and then Dean and chuckled.
"You can open your eyes, guys. We're in one piece." Sam swallowed and undid his harness as Brit hit the button to lower the air shocks. He quickly exited the vehicle, Dean following closely behind breathing hard. She laughed outright at the Winchesters. "You two tackle everything imaginable and some beyond imagination and rock crawling scares you? Wait till I show you the jump trail for the four wheelers."
"I'll pass; thanks." Dean said.
"Yeah," Sam echoed. Sam looked around them at the forest. It amazed him. There were several trails cleared off, some wider and rutted where the ATVs frequented and others that were narrower and smoother, taken by the hikers. The trails branched off in all directions. Brit walked to the back of the rig and removed her rifle and pack. Dean grabbed the weapons pack and his shotgun. Sam remained empty handed, his shotgun and Beretta in the bag Dean carried.
"We've got some bones to find." Dean said as he and Sam began flanking Brit closely. Both hunters were on alert even though it was still only early afternoon.
"Brit, I've been wanting to ask you, I saw in the video the kids shot that the trail looked blocked by boulders. I checked a recent detailed topographic map that was only a couple years old. It didn't show any blockages. What happened?" Sam asked her. She stopped walking and turned to face him.
"The landowners at the top of the mountain just past my property line clear cut two summers ago. After winter, when everything thawed, the Braddock Run, a small stream that follows the road, flooded and washed boulders into the path."
Sam's face screwed up into a grimace and one of his hands shot to his temple.
Brit had glanced at Dean as a light came on for her. "Wait, you don't think…" She turned to look at Sam. "Sam?"
A/N: Here we go! What's happening with Sam? Looks like the cliffie demon has me now. Catch the next chapter tomorrow night! Don't forget to review, I'll leave you cookies in my will!