Okay, Wendigos finished! I hope you guys like it.
Chapter 7: Finding Tom-o
Later at the campsite, they had built a fire. Dean was drawing something in the dirt around the campsite while Haley poked at the fire, "One more time, that's-"
"Anasazi symbols," Dean interrupted, "It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them." Roy laughed. He had a gun over his shoulder. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy," Dean headed over to sit next to Sam and George, who were at the edge of the campsite. "You wanna tell me what's going on in those freaky heads of yours?"
"Dean-" Sam was cut off.
"No, you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. George, don't think I didn't notice you spacing out back at Ol' Man Shaw's. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"
There was a pause, "Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?"
"I mean" George said, "you're Dad is known for being extremely, 100% clear, but I don't think he would ever be this cryptic."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek."
"Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?" Sam asked.
"This is why," Dean came around to the other hunters' front and held up the journal. "This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession-everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business.z"
Sam shook his head, "That makes no sense. Why doesn't he just-call us? Why doesn't he-tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?"
"I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it."
"As do I," George spoke up.
"Guys...no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about."
"Okay, all right," Dean agreed, "Sam, we'll find them, I promise. Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man.
Sam looked down, then up, "How do you do it? How does Dad do it?"
Dean and George looked over at Haley and Ben, "Well for one, them." Sam looked over at Haley and Ben, "I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable." There was a pause.
"Wanna know what else helps?" George asked.
Sam looked back at George, "Ganking as many evil douchebags as I possibly can."
Sam smiled. A twig snapped.
A voice called out, presumably the Wendigo, "Help me! Please!" Dean stood up and readied his gun. "Help!" The Wendigo called out again.
Sam shined a flashlight about. "He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put," Dean ordered.
"Inside the magic circle?" Roy scoffed.
"Help! Help me!" The Wendigo called out again, growling.
Roy pointed his gun at the sound, "Okay, that's no grizzly."
Haley talked to Ben, "It's okay. You'll be all right, I promise."
Something rushed past. Haley shrieked. "It's here," Sam spoke.
Roy shot at the rustling, then again, "I hit it!" Roy went to see what he hit.
"Roy, stay back!" George warned.
Dean turned to Haley and Ben, "Don't move."
Haley was holding a stick, burning at one end, as a weapon. The three hunters ran after Roy.
"It's over here! It's in the tree!" A voice shouted.
The Wendigo reached down from the tree and snapped Roy's neck.
"Roy!" Dean shouted.
Sam and George were sitting against a hollow tree stump, he held John's journal and played with a lanyard attached to the journal. George was reading over his shoulder, resisting the weird urge to put her head on his shoulder. Dean, Haley, and Ben were among the tents. "I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real," Haley said.
"I wish I could tell you different," Dean told her.
"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Haley asked, scared.
"We don't. But we're safe for now.," Dean replied.
"How do you know about this stuff?" Haley asked.
There was a pause while Dean considered, "Kind of runs in the family."
Sam and George came over. "Hey," Sam said. Haley stood up. "So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch."
"I second that notion," George declared.
"Well, hell," (Ooh rhyming) "you know I'm in."
Sam showed the wendigo page of John's journal to Haley and Ben. "'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'."
"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter," Dean told her.
"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley asked.
Dean picked a couple things up off the ground.
"Same thing every time," George informed her, "During some harsh winter some guy will find himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."
"Like the Donner Party," Ben pointed out.
"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality," Sam listed.
"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry."
"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asked.
George grimaced, "Don't think you'll like it.
George glanced at Sam and Dean, then back to Haley. "Tell me," Haley demanded.
George gave Dean a look to say 'You tell her', "More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there."
"And then how do we stop it?" Haley asked.
"Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically-" Dean held up the can of lighter fluid, the beer bottle, and the white cloth he'd picked up. "We gotta torch the sucker."
They hiked through the woods, Dean leading the way, Molotov cocktail in hand. Haley follows, then Ben, Sam, then George. They passed trees with claw marks and blood.
A little while later, Sam was leading the group now, George right behind him. "Dean," Sam called out.
Dean caught up to them, "What is it?"
The three of them looked around at the trees. There were bloody claw marks and broken branches everywhere, "You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow."
"I had the same thought myself," George breathed.
Suddenly, there was the sound of growling. Sam, Dean, and George whipped around. There were trees ruffling.
Haley was standing under a tree. Blood dripped on her shirt. She noticed and looked up, then leapt out of the way; Roy's corpse landed where she'd stood. Dean and George examined Roy as Sam went over to Haley.
"You okay? You got it?" Sam asked.
"His neck's broke," Dean pointed out.
"No shit Sherlock," George mumbled under her breath.
Sam helped Haley up. The sound of growling continued.
"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Dean ordered.
Everybody ran away. While running, Ben fell and Sam hurried back to help him up, dividing the group two and two. "Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha."
Dean, Haley, and George stopped short: the wendigo was in front of them. Haley screamed.
"Haley?" Ben called out.
Sam stopped running and picked up Dean's Molotov cocktail, the bottle broken.
"Dean!"
In the forest, Ben and Sam were looking for Haley, George and Dean.
"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?"
"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off."
Ben noticed a trail of peanut M&Ms and picked one up. "They went this way."
Sam caught up to BEN, who handed over the M&M. Sam laughed. "It's better than breadcrumbs." Sam tossed the M&M away.
Sam and Ben followed the trail. They finally came to a mine entrance marked with a sign that said, 'WARNING! DANGER! DO NOT ENTER EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIAL'. Sam looked at Ben, shrugged, and went inside. Ben followed. Above the entrance was a larger sign that said, 'KEEP OUT NO ADMITTANCE'.
When they entered the mine, Sam shined the flashlight ahead of them. He heard growling; Sam shut off the light and pulled Ben against the wall. The wendigo came towards them. Sam covered Ben's mouth before he could scream. The wendigo took a different tunnel at the crossing. Sam and Ben kept going. The floorboards creaked and Ben and Sam fell through the floor; they landed in a pile of bones. There was another pile nearby of skulls. Ben spotted them and leapr backward.
"Hey, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Sam and Ben looked up; Dean, Haley, and George were hanging by their wrists from the ceiling. Sam ran to Dean, Ben to Haley, "Dean! George!"
"Haley, wake up!" Ben said.
Sam grabbed Dean and shook him. "Dean!"
Dean opened his eyes, "Hey, you okay?"
Dean winced, "Yeah."
Sam shook George, "George!"
George groaned, "What?"
"You okay?"
George smiled, "Peachy. Would be doing something with my hands, but you can see," George looked up, "I'm kinda tied up at the moment." Sam laughed.
"Haley, Haley, wake up, wake up!" Ben kept saying.
Sam cut Dean down, then George, and Ben took care of Haley. They helped them over to an empty patch of floor and got them sat down. Dean and George made pained noises.
"You sure you two are all right?"
Dean grimaced, "Yeah. Yep. Where is he?"
"He's gone for now," Sam informed them.
Haley divested herself of rope. She stood up and spots TOM still hanging and starts crying, "Tommy..."
Haley touched Tommy's cheek. Tommy's head jerked up. Haley jumped back and shrieked. She turned to Sam, "Cut him down!" Sam cut Tommy down. "We're gonna get you home."
The stolen supplies were piled in the corner. Dean picked up flare guns, "Check it out."
George grinned, "Flare guns. Those'll definitely work."
Sam grinned. Dean laughed and twirled the guns.
They headed down a tunnel, the three hunters were in the lead with the flare guns and Haley and Ben supporting Tommy, who was limping.
They heard growling.
"Looks like someone's home for supper," Dean commented.
"We'll never outrun it," Haley said.
Dean looked back at the others, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Think so," George replied.
"All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam and George. They're gonna get you out of here."
"What are you gonna do?" Haley asked.
Dean winked and started walking and yelling, "Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I'm feeling good."
Dean faded out.
Sam waited until Dean was a safe distance away, "All right, come on! Hurry!"
The Collinses follow Sam and George down the tunnel.
Back at the mine, Dean was taunting the Wendigo, "Hey! Hey, you want some white meat, bitch! I'm right here!"
Sam, George, Haley, Ben, and Tommy hurried down a tunnel.
Growling could be heard. Sam and George pointed their guns at it, then lowered their guns and turned to the Collinses.
"Get him outta here," Sam ordered.
"Sam, no."
"Go! Go! Go!" George demanded.
"Come on, Haley!"
Haley and Ben helped Tommy along the mine tunnel.
Sam held the flare gun ready to shoot, with George next to him, doing the same. They were both looking down the tunnel.
"Come on. Come on." Sam said.
Growling continued. Sam and George turned: the wendigo was right in their faces. Sam shoots and misses, George shot and missed as well, then ran after the Collinses.
"Sam! George!" Haley shouted.
Said hunters caught up, "Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry."
They ran to the end of the tunnel, the wendigo right behind.
"Get behind us," George ordered.
The wendigo approached, taking its time.
Dean came up behind the wendigo. "Hey!" Dean shouted.
The wendigo turned. Dean shot it in the stomach. The flare went off and the wendigo went up in flames. "Not bad, huh?"
Sam and George grinned.
An ambulance loaded up Tommy. Two Police Officers were interviewing Ben; Sam stood behind BEN. "And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?"
"That's when it circled the campsite. I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds," Ben lied.
Sam nodded. "All right, we'll go after it first thing," the officer replied.
Haley talked to Dean and George; all three have already been patched up. "So I don't know how to thank you."
Dean smirked lasciviously as George elbowed him. Haley smiled despite herself. "Must you cheapen the moment?"
"Yeah."
"All he knows how to do."
A paramedic came up to HALEY, "You two riding with your brother?"
"Yeah."
The paramedic headed back to the ambulance. Haley turned to Ben. "Let's go."
Sam and Ben nodded at each other. Haley kissed Dean on the cheek. George wiggled her eyebrows.
"I hope you find your father," Haley said.
Haley and Ben headed for the ambulance, "Thanks, Sam. You too George."
Haley and Ben climbed in the ambulance with Tommy, who was shirtless and bandaged.
Sam and George sat on the Impala's hood with Dean.
"Close her up," A second paramedic ordered.
A third paramedic closed the ambulance doors.
"Man, I hate camping."
"Me too," Sam replied.
"Me three," George held up a hand.
They could hear the sounds of the ambulance driving away.
"Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?" Dean told him.
"Yeah, I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving."
Dean tossed Sam the keys.
The three of them got in the car, slamming the doors almost in sync.
The car started and drove off.
How was it? One of my favorite episodes of S1 is coming up