A/N: Aw, You guys rock!! Thank you all so much for the awesome reviews and reaction to this story so far. Here's the chapter for tonight. Enjoy! Again, any facts that seem off or anything that doesn't read quite right is all me and a lock of research. Please forgive.
Chapter 5
"You boys stay close to each other. Sam, let Dean take point." John pulled out the rough copy of the mapped out cave system. He pointed to several places on the sketched out map. "We have about eighty yards before the cave splits off into two branches. You two take the left branch and Bobby and I'll take the right. All of the killings happened when the cavers came back to the fork and started mapping the right branch after they'd finished with the left." John said, pointing to a rounded off section describing the dead end of the cavern, which according to the map's scale was nearly a mile into the heart of the mountain. "I'd say that the right branch is the thing's territory. We meet back here in two hours, regardless whether we've found the thing or not." John said, raising his hand to look at his watch. Dean did the same, holding onto a button. "It's 3:18... now." Sam knew both Dean's and his dad's watches would beep every half hour and at an hour and a half in they would double back and step up the pace to make it back to the fork. His bad feeling intensified, curling around his spine like a clammy fist. John and Bobby headed off down the right fork. John stopped and looked at his boys. "Be careful."
"You too dad. Bobby." Dean said, nodding once. Dean took off down the left tunnel, Sam following closely, watching his brother's back. They held their guns at the ready, gun hands crossed over hands wielding bright flashlights. They took it slow, cautiously looking in every corner and crevice that decorated the rough stone walls of the cavern. They soon found scuff marks in the dust that covered the floor, human footprints, boots by the looks of the tread. "This must be the first group's tracks. Dad said they mapped this first, so I figure since the crews had communicated with the topside worker in each case he knew where they were so the rescue guys didn't need to use this fork." Dean shined his flashlight around and noted four sets of tracks. "Definitely the first group. Let's go deeper, see if we can't find something." Dean stood and returned his gun to the ready, turning into the tunnel and moving stealthily forward, Sam's height allowed him to lift his .45 higher and sight over Dean's shoulder, knowing that its solid bullets had a better range than the shot gun. He fought to keep his hands from shaking.
"Aw, God." Bobby said as he and John rounded the bend in the right tunnel. He had come upon the first of the scattered body parts. It was an arm from the elbow down. The walls, Bobby noted as he shined his flashlight about, were stained with thickening crimson. Frozen water that had seeped through the walls stained pink enough to look like grotesque Kool-Aid. Bobby's breath steamed in front of his face as he hissed when his flashlight beam bounced off the remainder of the torn body. The man was literally shredded, long claw marks and visible teeth marks covering the body.
"Poor bastard." John said; grimacing as his stomach flipped. Their eyes moved further up the tunnel, coming to rest on another body, her long hair loose from its ponytail, her head barely hanging on as her throat was ripped out.
"My God." Bobby near whispered as he dropped his eyes to the cavern floor. Movement made him look up again. Something skittered across the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness out of range of their lights. Bobby quickly held his gun up, John aiming his rifle over his friend's shoulder. A growl sounded out ahead of them in the tunnel, the rasping sound bouncing off the black stone walls, reverberating around the two wary hunters. John took off down the tunnel after the shadow.
"John wait!" Bobby cried out chasing after his impetuous, pain-in-the-ass friend. John could smell it now, something akin to a moldy basement. He stopped and shone his flashlight into the corners and crevices that lined the rough rock walls. He saw nothing until he shined the beam around further up the tunnel. A flicker caught his eye. A growl sounded out, loud, menacing. John raised the rifle and moved a few paces forward, shining his flashlight in the direction of the noise. The beam fell on a creature no more than five feet tall. It had dry gray skin covered at points with blue tinged scales, its head, neck, shoulders, knees and feet, like armor. Long yellowed claws came into view as the thing raised a five fingered hand to shield its eyes from the bright light John had steadied on it. It growled and lunged, just as Bobby moved up beside him. Stained teeth bared and loomed over John as the beast's weight forced him to land hard on the stone floor. John's rifle fired wildly as his elbow cracked off the stone making his fingers go numb. The shot missed the beast and lodged in the cavern wall. Bobby, knowing he'd hit John if he shot, bent and grabbed the creature that had John pinned, dropping his shotgun when the beast thrashed and fought his grip. It bucked wildly, claws raking both men and lunged again, this time taking Bobby to the hard stone floor. John pushed himself upright and steadied the flashlight on the creature's eyes. It shrieked loud enough to make his ears ring as it flattened its pointy ears against its head and took off, disappearing into the darkness.
Bobby forced himself to his feet with a grunt, stuffing leaking out of his insulated vest where the beast's claws had caught him. Luckily his extra layers protected him from the cold and the claws. John dropped his arm to the cavern floor and lifted a knee as he lay there trying to catch his breath. His hand was beginning to regain feeling and he felt the sting of claw marks on the back but he knew they weren't deep. Bobby came to him and looked him over for injury. Other than blood on the back of his hand and a similar injury to his insulated jacket, there was nothing to be concerned about. "You okay, John?"
"Yeah. 'm okay." John said as he took the proffered hand. Bobby hauled him to his feet and he flexed the elbow that he'd hit on the stone, pins and needles shooting through it but he knew it wasn't broken.
"That damn thing got by us." Bobby said even as stark fear flared in John.
"It's goin' after the boys."
Sam and Dean had cautiously picked their way to the dead end of the left branch of the cavern in just over an hour. Dean looked around, his flashlight panning over the rough surface of the rock as his breath fogged in front of his face.
"Hey Dean?"
"Yeah, Sammy?"
"I'm gettin' cold."
"Yeah, me too. Temperature's droppin'. He looked at his watch, turning on the indiglo. It's ten after four. Just about dark." Dean said as his flashlight beam sparkled off the ice flow that had dripped into the cave an frozen, making one wall look like a waterfall. The light blinded him and he shifted, averting his eyes from the glare. He caught movement and peered into the darkness behind Sam, where something caught his attention. He lifted the shotgun at the same time yelling, "Sam DROP!"
Sam let his legs go limp and did as Dean said without question. He felt the buckshot sail over his head. He turned slightly and looked up at the creature in time to see most of the shot bounce harmlessly off its thick hide. The beast shrieked in anger, making the dead end chamber and both Winchester's ears ring. Sam flinched as Dean came closer, and he stood once Dean had a clear shot from beside him. Sam fired as the beast roared, making Sam's head pound in tune with the reverberating sound. His vision swam and he fired again, now blinded by smoke from the guns and pain from the echoing growl. Dean fired the second barrel of the shot gun and hit the beast in the tender stomach, the shot finally giving them the upper hand as the beast staggered and its head tipped back. Sam managed to aim and this time hit the beast in the soft, unprotected tissue beneath its pointed chin and gaping mouth. It gurgled, the shrieking growl dying in its throat as it slumped to the stone floor. Sam made his way over to the creature, shooting one more time, this time just above its bat like nose between the yellow eyes. Dean came over and clapped Sam on the shoulder just as his alarm began beeping. The beep was drowned out by a rumble that seemed to start deep within the mountain. It grew quickly to a deafening roar as the chamber they were in began to shake. Dean glanced over Sam's shoulder and saw the wall to the left of the doorway shift. One of the stray bullets had hit a weak spot in the wall and it was coming down.
"Sam, Look out!" Dean turned, grabbing his little brother by the jacket and shoving him out to the way of the wall. As the boulders swept Dean off his feet he gave Sam a shove that sent him clear of the falling wall. Sam stumbled. Pushed hard by Dean and hit in the back of the legs by the falling rocks, he was propelled forward into an unforgiving stone wall. His head connected, blackness claiming him as he slumped to the floor. He was unconscious before the dust started to settle.
John had taken off at a sprint down the tunnel towards the fork. He stopped for a split second, hearing the distant sound of rapid gunfire. "My god, it found my boys." John took off again, followed closely by a worried Bobby. The two hunters made it to the fork and turned, running quickly down the left branch when the rumbling started, seeming to come from deep within the mountain. The cavern began to shake, the two stopping as the low rumble grew in intensity and changed to a roar. Dust billowed up the left branch, the cloud blasting over them and forcing them to turn their backs on the cloud as they shielded their faces and tried not to breathe in the suffocating dust. John clamped his bent elbow over his nose and mouth, using his clothing to filter the air he had to breathe. "NNOOOO!" He screamed as he heard the cavern come down on his boys' heads. John started to sprint to the source of his distress. Bobby caught him by the arm and pulled him up short, slapping a clean handkerchief into his hand.
"Tie that around your damn mouth and keep it shut. You'll suffocate in this dust if ya don't. If you're dead we can't help them boys." Bobby growled; his words muffled by the blue, dust covered handkerchief he had tied around his head, over his nose and mouth, looking vaguely like an Old West bandit with the scruffy beard peaking out beneath it.
John did as Bobby told him, eyes watering uncontrollably as he peered through the dust laden darkness, his flashlight beam not penetrating the cloud that hung heavy in the air. John wanted to think that the salt drops coursing down his cheeks to wash the dust from the handkerchief had sprung up because of the dust, but part of him knew better. Oh, Mary, watch out for our boys. Please let them be okay. Let us find them. God, let my boys be alive. Don't take 'em from me.
"That thing could still be alive. We don't know that they got it and we can't see. Its lived in these caves for who the hell knows how long. If it doesn't know these tunnels, it can see in the dark, which means it has the upper hand."
"You heard the shots Bobby. I know my boys. I know the sounds of the guns they had. I heard Dean's and Sammy's. That damn thing is dead. They got it, I know they did. We have to get to my boys Bobby."
"We will, but we need to watch it. That thing gets the drop on us and we won't be able to help them."
"Fine. Nothing is stopping me from getting to my boys though. NOTHING."
"I know John. Let's get to those two." John started down the tunnel, Bobby right behind. Both men had their guns held at the ready. John's flashlight was completely useless, just glaring back at him like high beams in a thick fog. He shined it at the stone floor of the cavern as he began seeing chunks of rubble. He still heard boulders shifting and groaning as stones shifted. He stopped when the tunnel widened out at the start of the dead end chamber that he remembered from the map that was stuffed into his back pocket. What he saw stopped him cold. A solid wall of downed boulders, sized from grapefruits to compact cars blocked the entire tunnel, wall to wall and floor to ceiling. John swallowed back bile as the thought of burying his boys slammed into his brain before he could stop it.
A/N: Okay so it's a little longer tonight. Hope it read well and I really hope I see you all back tomorrow evening.