Disclaimer : The boys are definitely not mine (sad sad fact)

Chapter 2

"Crap!"

Sam cursed again as he felt the weight he had been carrying for the last fifteen minutes was getting heavier by the seconds. It was not a burden, but the weight getting heavy meaning situation had just turned to worse.

"Sorry Sam"

"Shut up Dean!" Sam hissed as he shifted Dean's arm which was slung around his shoulder and tightened his grasp at Dean's belt loop, adjusting his brother's weight on his own. "Just stay awake okay?"

"'Kay" Dean nodded wearily and tried standing up straight. The attempt made him panted exhaustedly and Sam cringed with sympathy.

Dean was not really heavy; at least not heavier than Sam. He could always put Dean on his shoulder and give him a fireman's carry. It would fasten their pace; end their journey to the car sooner and save Dean from unbearable pain and fatigue. But Sam needed Dean to stay awake and the only mean to make him do that was to keep him moving on his own.

"Just hold on a little longer Dean" Sam urged as he gazed Dean's paled face. His brother's face had turned fearfully white and somehow looked years older than he really aged. Dean's brown hair was plastered to his forehead and was drenched with sweat. Sam thought Dean's skin was far too hot in the freezing weather, and yet he was shivering violently.

Sam cursed silently, blaming himself for giving in to Dean's request yesterday and blaming Dean for being such an annoying big brother. If Dean wasn't as annoying as he was, he wouldn't have give in to him when he asked Sam to find them a gig, this gig. A gig that had went south.

……………………………………….

It was Pukwudgies. Three-feet tall troll-like beings Bobby believed were responsible for several unexplainable suicides at the forest's ledge over the last couple of months. The authorities took the suicides as results of the increasing of depression among the states folk. Well, Bobby thought to hell with the authorities. People didn't mess with a Pukwudgie, not when it was easily irritated by humans.

The state authorities had decided to turn the forest into a reserved, open to the public a year ago. There had been camping, jungle hiking, cave exploring and lots of other extreme activities that would have disturbed the creatures' lair and it must have enraged the Pukwudgie very bad.

Pukwudgie, according to Native American lore was said to be vengeful towards human and would kill if they were disturbed. It killed its victims by pushing them off a ravine or a cliff; always had them misunderstood as suicide.

Not wanting to go for a hunt without any preparation, Dean and Sam had first went to meet the victims' friends or family to confirm what they had in mind. The latest victim, a 17 years old boy, said to commit suicide in the forest by jumping off the cliff because he was devastated for failing to get offers from any college. That was said by the newspapers. However, when Sam and Dean met his parents, they denied the statement strongly; stressing that David was a determined person, a failure like that won't affect him at all. They also said he had moved on, taking on a part time job and night classes, and that he was happy with his new girlfriend Kayla.

Most of the families and friends that Sam and Dean went to see agreed that the victims didn't suffer any depression as claimed by the authorities. They simply went to the forest to spend some time with nature.

"If only they knew what lurks in nature" Dean had generously commented before they went into the woods two hours ago. "Then they'd hate camping like we do"

So, into the woods they went; taking with them iron rounds and silver bullets. At least any of them should work. They prayed that the weapons would work because they'd be in big trouble if they don't.

Sam was still hesitating when they started trudging into the woods. Dean was not well enough but a promise had to be kept. After all, Dean had kept his by behaving a little too nicely; making Sam contemplated on splashing the holy water on Dean, or shooting him with rock salt. Fine! Let him have all the fun now, then Sam would make sure Dean goes back to bed whether he like it or not. Maybe he would tie Dean to the bed this time. Or gag his mouth with a rag. Sam would like that.

…………………………………….

That was then, this was now. Now Sam was determined he would drag Dean to bed even if it costs his life. After all, he was half dragging half carrying Dean now. Dean was barely walking on his own as consciousness started to ebb away.

"Dean! Not now!" Sam said urgently as he felt Dean started leaning too much weight on him.

"Am…tired Sam-my" Dean whimpered, making Sam's neck prickled. Situation is getting worse.

"Hold on Dean…we're not that far" Sam almost pled. He knew it was unfair to do it now, but he needed to. So, the puppy eyes came out in full force.

"Sammy…" Dean slurred. Sam heard him muttering 'Won't work…' before Dean's went white eyed and fell face plant to the ground, bringing Sam down with him.

"Dean?" Sam rolled Dean onto his back and shook his body vigorously. No respond. "Dean!"

…………………………………

After an hour of searching, they found the creatures' lair, and were surprised to find out they were able to transform into another animal. No wonder witnesses claimed they saw a bear instead of a three-foot tall troll-like creature of some sort. Not only they were able to use poison arrows as means of attacking, they could appear and disappear at their own will; which made it hard for Sam and Dean to focus when they came in contact with a nest of Pukwudgies. It was like they were fighting a bunch of cunning fairies; playful and dangerous at the same time.

Sam never really leaves Dean's side all the time they were fighting the Pukwudgies. But there was one time the creatures lured Sam away from Dean by running into the direction Sam knew a campfire resided. Dean had shouted for him to go after it, to save innocents' blood from being spilled. Sometime Sam wondered what they have done to not be regarded as innocent themselves.

So, Sam went after the pukwudgies, leaving Dean behind to fight another bunch of the pain-in-the-ass creatures. They each got a group to be slain. But Sam really forgot that Dean was in no state of fighting even a couple of monstrous child-like being which could disappear into thin air, much else using magic to distract their opponents.

Dean was having a high fever by the time they left the motel. Dean with a high fever was Dean without the ability to think rationally, a delusional Dean. He couldn't walk a straight line – though his aims were still accurate – and could barely stand up straight without panting for the effort. Sam made a mistake of leaving Dean alone fighting the fuckwudgies – that's what Sam started calling them after they messed up with his brother.

While Sam was away, chasing a couple of Pukwudgies from spilling innocence's blood, Dean was tossed to a tree, was shot with poisonous arrows, and was pinned down to the ground mercilessly. But somehow Dean managed to annihilate all his attackers by the time Sam came back; finding him slumped under a tree, almost oblivious and completely delirious.

After an immediate assessment on Dean's condition, Sam discovered severe damage to his ribs – none broken, but still it would hurt like hell, a possible concussion judging on the blood dripping on one side of his head, and some swellings which gave in a nasty color of red on his arms and back. The ribs and the concussion, Sam could deal with. But the swellings, Sam knew better he was helpless with them. They were caused by poison from the pukwudgies' arrows. One arrow shouldn't endanger anyone because one arrow didn't hold a lethal dose of poison. They were minute. But a number of them – fifteen altogether on Dean's body – would result in fatality.

"Dean?" Sam called worriedly. He cupped Dean's cheek and lifted his brother's face a little. "Dean?" now he sounded desperate.

"Sammy…kk-killed them all" Dean opened his eyes in slits. Sam found the green eyes were eerily glassy and watery.

"Yeah Dean, you killed them all" Sam rubbed his brother's cheek with the pad of his thumb and smiled a little when he felt Dean was leaning into his touch.

"M' good" Dean sneered with pride, much to Sam relief.

"You're the best" Sam realized Dean had begun to slur and his lids started to drop. "Hey Dean?"

Dean opened his eyes again, looking at Sam with a gaze so weak it made Sam's stomach churned. "Yeah Sam?"

"Are you okay?"

"Peachy" Dean brought his two thumbs up but then Sam could see the labor in Dean's attempt to ease Sam's worries.

"Dean, we need to get you to the car…can you walk?" Sam asked, rather foolishly because he didn't need an answer to know Dean would not be able to walk without assistance. But he'd been living with his brother too long to immediately offer him crutches whenever he was down. Dean had let Sam sees him being an invalid, Sam could at least spare Dean some dignity to live with.

Dean nodded weakly. Propping on one hand, Dean heaved himself up; almost stumbling down again during the effort. All the while, Sam's hand hovered warily inches from Dean's figure; ready to assist whenever was needed.

After toiling to stand up, Dean flashed Sam his infamous cocky smile. It was the triumphant smile he would give Sam when he was able to do something without Sam's help. Despite of his victory, Dean was all wobbly and shaky as he stood on his feet.

"Come on"

Sam waited for Dean to start walking. It took him only a couple of strides before Dean fell on his knees and started to gag. Whatever he had eaten that day rolled out from his stomach in laps of violent heaving. Sam couldn't help cringing at the painful sight. He came over and offered Dean some comfort by rubbing his brother's arching back. Dean shuddered at the touch of his hand, making Sam wondered whether he had hurt him.

After all the food was spewed harshly from his digestive trait, leaving nothing but a cramped abdominal muscle, Dean sat back on his heels. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sighed tiredly.

Sam was getting anxious. They could not afford wasting more time. The longer they were in the woods, the worse Dean would get. He had to get him out of there as soon as possible before the poison could contaminate Dean's system.

"You're good?" Sam flinched at how demanding he sounded.

"Yeah" Dean whispered back and Sam felt guilty as hell to hear the pain in his brother's croaky voice. A part of him wanted to get Dean to safety and to treat him immediately but the other part of him wanted to let Dean rest. "Good to go" Dean nodded and started rising on his feet.

Even before he could move his body, Dean's stomach decided not to give him any break. He went into another round of heaving, this time his gut spewed nothing but clear liquid and air. Sam ran a hand over his shaggy hair, realizing the situation was not as good as he thought it was. The poison was fast flooding Dean's system, assisted by Dean's already weakened body.

After dry heaving a couple of times and letting out a painful whimper in between, Dean shook his head and tried standing up. Sam didn't ask this time around but he straight away gave Dean a helpful hand; sliding a hand under his brother's arm and pulling him up to his feet.

Dean didn't reject Sam's offering, a sign for Sam that Dean was feeling terrible. He let Sam took his arm and sled it around Sam's shoulder, another sign to let Sam knows Dean was not feeling so hot.

"Sammy, this gig sucks" Dean gave an honest comment.

"Crystal clear" Sam smiled tightly.

Dean looked down to his feet, to his pool of sickness and cringed with disgust. "No more tacos for lunch" he murmured and smirked shamefully; grinning foolishly at Sam.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. He hoped silently they would reach the Impala in time before Dean lost whatever strength he had left in him.

…………………………….

Sam's hopes crumbled as they hadn't reached the Impala and Dean was already a heap of mess on the forest floor. Dean lied on the ground, sweating and shivering furiously. His eyes moved frantically under his lids, as if he was having a terrible nightmare. His head tossed and turned in what seemed useless attempts to wake up.

"Dean…come on man, wake up"

Dean gave no respond and Sam started panicking. He put a hand on Dean's sweaty forehead and flinched at the scorching heat radiating from his brother's body. Dean's already fevered body was made severe with the raging poison ravaging his system. Sam's hand started fishing for the mobile phone inside his jeans pocket.

He didn't realize he was trembling hard until he saw the phone shook madly in his grasp; he almost dropped it. With haste, Sam dialed Bobby's number but his fingers were stunned when he saw there was no coverage in the area. "Damn it!" Sam almost crushed the phone with his fingers.

They were too obsessed for a showdown they came in unprepared for the worst. They hadn't research enough on the Pukwudgies and didn't even bother to look for antidotes for the Pukwudgies' poison. Sam cursed himself for being ignorant and careless – something he had been doing too often lately.

Sam looked down to his broken brother. Dean was delirious now; rambling about something Sam couldn't understand. Guess even in this state Dean wouldn't reveal his four months in hell to Sam. Even in his oblivion, Dean still acted the stoic big brother who less likely to share his feelings with his expressionist baby brother. It just pissed Sam off.

Sliding his arms under Dean, across his back and another under his knees, Sam was just about to pick him up when he heard footsteps shuffling in the shrubs ahead of them. He grabbed his shotgun, and pointed to the direction of the approaching object. Silently, he hoped it was just some innocent campers wandering around looking for firewood, not another bunch of funny looking three-foot-tall gremlin-like being. They just couldn't afford being attacked now. Not in this condition.

Sam stood up on his feet, ready to pull the trigger and waited for his enemy to show up. One minute, two…three, nothing came out from the shrubs. Sam's brows twitched. He lowered the shotgun and suddenly two figures jumped out from the shrubs, knocking him down to the ground. His shotgun was seized from him. Everything happened so fast Sam didn't get the chance to see his opponents' faces. He was damn sure they were human and not the pukwudgies – at least it was a relief. But he couldn't be too sure, maybe they were demons. 'Damn it!'

Sam was pinned to the ground, his attacker's knee crushing his spine, his face planted to the ground. He couldn't even budge a muscle. "Check on him" he heard the man on top of him giving order to his subordinate. He heard booted foot trudging towards Dean and it made his blood pumped harshly in his veins.

"He's alive…but severely injured" the other man reported back. This man sounded younger than the one pinning Sam down.

"Good!" Sam's attacker sighed with relief. Relief? Sam was not sure he heard it right. Were his attackers relieved to hear Dean was alive?

"If you don't do something…he won't be alive for long!" Sam screamed. He could not afford this. He needed to get Dean to safety, somewhere he could be treated before his condition got worse beyond repair.

"Who are you to him?" the younger man asked.

Grunting irately, Sam spat the dirt he had in his mouth and said "He's my brother and he's dying!" sounding annoyed and worried at the same time. 'Who are these people anyway?'. He had been practicing arm combat from as long as he could remember and yet these men outdid him in seconds.

Sam felt the weight on his back lightened and later was pulled away from him. Still, the hand on his neck was hesitating. But then, Sam found himself free from the brutal manhandles. Quickly, he shot up and away from his attacker.

"What's wrong with your brother?" the man who held him down asked with a firm voice.

Sam narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on the man's feature. However, darkness didn't help much with his effort. The man was shadowed as he stood straight in the dark, almost invisible to sight. Sam gave up and went to get Dean, not bothering to answer the question.

He squatted next to Dean and checked his brother's pulse. Thank God! At least the pulse was still there though not really encouraging. "I need to get him helped" Sam whispered, more to himself than to the strangers.

"You don't look like any campers here"

Sam grunted with unexplainable annoyance. He got no time for this. Dean's time was running out. He shot up and looked at the two men with eyes flared with anger. "We went into the woods to hunt for a pukwudgie, instead we found a nest" Sam blurted. "We weren't prepared and Dean was shot with the creatures' poisoned arrows, now he's dying!"

The men were dumbfounded. Sam could sense that as he heard their breath caught.

"That's our story…so if you are not of any help, I suggest you step away and let us go through" Sam crouched again, sliding his arms under Dean's knees and back and with one pull gathered his brother's limp figure to his torso.

"You killed them?" the question made Sam swirled around with shock. He never thought they were going to buy the story. No normal people would believe his story; they would just regard him as lunatic on the loose.

"What?!" Sam couldn't help asking.

"The pukwdugies…you killed them all?" the man repeated; the same man pinning Sam down a little while ago.

"Well…sort of" Sam hesitated, wondering whether the men were the lunatics. He tried focusing on the men's faces again. "Come out into the light so I can see you"

The taller man moved and he stepped into the light, looking at Sam face to face. Sam studied the face and his mouth went agape. So did the man's.

"Kyle?"

"Sam? Sam Winchester?!"

TBC

a/n: Hope you enjoy reading this fic so far. The next updates are going to have a lot of sick Dean and worried Sam. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm waiting for the revised version from my lovely beta. I'll be uploading when it's available. Take care.