One minute, Dean was in the falling helicopter trying not to scream.

The next he was flat on the ground, looking up into Sam's worried eyes. The pilot looked a little pale underneath his honey tan.

"Hey, we're not dead," Dean croaked. "Awesome."

Sam blew out a relieved breath. "How do you feel?"

"Eh, I'm good." Dean pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked blearily around. They were about ten feet from the Bumble Bee, who was looking more than a little crunched. "Man, that sucks."

Sam stared gloomily at Bee Bee. "Yes, it does." He gingerly touched a rising lump on his forehead, then got to his feet, pulling Dean up with him.

Moving a little unsteadily over to the helicopter, Sam rummaged around inside and pulled the backpack out from behind his seat. Pulling out the gun and ammo, he thumbed in some shells.

Dean watched him, confusion plain on his face.

Sam stuck the gun into his belt, shrugged the backpack over his shoulders and started walking toward the trees. "Come on, we gotta get out of here."

"Wait, if we leave the helicopter, how are the search and rescue guys going to find us?" Dean looked toward Bee Bee. "Did you call them?"

Sam turned back at the tree line. "Radio's busted," he said flatly.

Dean stared at him, then fumbled for his phone. "My cell –"

"Mine's got no signal. I'm guessing yours won't either."

He was right.

"But the rescue guys, they'll still come, right?" Dean asked.

"When we don't come back, yeah. But it's not them I'm thinking about." Sam settled the backpack a little more firmly and started again into the trees. "Come on."

"Damn it, Sam, wait!" Dean stayed where he was. "Why aren't we waiting for the rescue guys?"

Impatiently, Sam spun to face him. "Because the guys who shot us down are looking for us!"

"Shot?" Dean gaped at him.

Puzzled, Sam stared at him, then sighed. "Sorry, man, I thought you knew. Someone shot us down."

"Who?"

"The guys who were after the tiger! Now come on! I'd like not to get shot at again!" Sam started off again.

After one last glance at the downed copter, Dean hurried after Sam into the trees. "Who are they? Do you know?"

"Hunters. Poachers." Sam kept an eye out, checking out the forest around them, keeping his voice down. "Well, sort of. Exotic animal smuggling is big in Florida. Mostly it's smaller stuff, snakes, birds, but I've heard rumors people have been bringing in bigger game to hunt."

"Okay," Dean said. "But why'd they shoot at us?"

"I'm guessing they thought we were game wardens and they didn't want to go in jail."

"Oh," said Dean blankly. "So. Assholes."

Sam snorted out a laugh. "Pretty much."

There was a shout in the distance. Several seconds later, a second shout, from a different direction. This one closer. They started to run.

ΩΩΩ

Dean was never coming back to Florida.

Ever.

Damned state was stupid hot, breathing its air was like sucking down soup, and it was full of alligators, snakes, assholes who were way too handsy with their guns and man-eating damned tigers.

The only thing Florida had going for it was the totally hot pilot with the amazing ass who'd gotten him into this mess in the first place. Although probably he shouldn't hold Sam responsible for the assholes with guns. Or the tiger. Or, if he was being completely honest, the weather.

The only thing they had going for them right now was the fact they hadn't seen any damned snakes yet.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead for about the tenth time in the last five minutes, Dean looked thoughtfully ahead at Sam and his amazing ass.

Thing was, he wasn't all that sure that Sam was right about them being hunted.

Maybe something had gone wrong with the copter's engine or rotors or something.

Maybe the lump on Sam's head had messed him up,

Maybe, if those hunters had shot them down, it had been an accident and those guys were looking for them so they could help them.

Maybe they'd been thrashing around in this hot, sticky, buggy jungle for more than two hours for no good reason at all.

Dean was so busy wrestling with scenarios he didn't realize Sam had come to a stop until he ran up on the big man's heels. The pilot spun and clamped a hand over Dean's mouth, pulling him behind a big clump of bushes just in time to avoid being seen by two men coming through the trees with a pair of big-ass rifles.

Heart pounding, Dean started to push Sam's hand away, then stopped, caught by the sudden heat in the other man's eyes. Slowly, not taking his eyes from Dean's, Sam took away his hand and drew his gun. The two huddled together, waiting, hardly breathing, as the two hunters came closer.

"Hold on." One of the men came to a halt about fifteen feet away and leaned his gun against a tree. "I gotta take a leak."

The second man grunted impatiently. "Just hurry up. I want to get the hell out of here."

"Yeah, no shit! Why the hell are we looking for these guys, Felix? It's bullshit! I'm not getting paid enough to shoot feds." There was more than a little anger in the first man's voice.

Dean gave an internal sigh. Shit. Sam was right.

Definitely bad guys.

"Let's just get it done, worry about the money later," Felix said flatly. "Me and Estella are goin' out tonight. If I'm late again, she'll have my balls."

The other man snorted. "She must be a great lay, all the crap you put up with."

"Watch your mouth!"

A dirty laugh. "Hey, just sayin'."

"Whatever. Just keep it shut."

"Yeah, yeah." There was the sound of a zipper. "I still can't believe that pendejo shot those guys down. All we had to do was split, they never woulda found us!"

"Man wants his trophy, don't he?"

After a little more bitching and moaning, the two gunmen moved on, passing Sam and Dean without ever seeing them.

The two fugitives stayed still and silent for a few more minutes until they couldn't hear the hunters anymore, then Sam let out a deep breath. He started to say something, then his gaze moved beyond Dean and he froze.

"What?" Dean started to turn.

Sam grabbed him by the shoulders. "Don't look. Just follow me."

Dean wanted to look, needed to look, but the look on Sam's face kept him moving forward without a backward glance.

When they were well away from the danger zone, Dean looked behind him. Nothing. "What was it?"

"A big python," Sam said tersely. "In the saw grass right behind you. Twelve, maybe fifteen feet long."

After a fraught moment, Dean said, voice shaking just the tiniest bit, "Good thing I didn't turn around, then. They'd have heard me screaming all the way back in Austin."

At that moment, there was a deep, coughing roar somewhere ahead of them. The sound brought both men to a halt and Dean clutched Sam's arm, hard.

"I vote we go back, take our chances with the snake."

ΩΩΩ