"You think if we profile the thing their hunting, it will lead us to them." Rossi stated intrigued by the idea.
"How are we supposed to figure out what they are hunting, do you have any idea how many legends and religions have creatures that abduct people from the woods?" Morgan asked. "Don't answer that." He added quickly when Reid opened his mouth to ramble off some fact about the number of creatures they would have to profile.
"Have Garcia look into any legends that involve the woods and abductions." Hotch ordered, happy that they finally had something to work with.
"We had a call on the tip line, a man matching Sam's description spotted at a local store." An officer stated as he came into the room.
"What did he buy?" Emily asked.
"Ah, a can of hairspray and a lighter." The officer muttered, not sure how what he bought was going to help.
"And fire, a creature that can be fought with fire." Hotch added as Morgan dialed the number.
...
"What do you have for us baby girl?" Morgan asked in his usual playful voice that was reserved only for Garcia.
"Do you know how many things that go bump in the night grab unsuspecting campers in the woods?" Garcia asked stubbornly. "You got vengeful spirits, black dogs, hell hound- though they hunt you down anywhere most people just tend to hid in the wood when running from them." She rambled.
"Focus baby girl." Morgan laughed into the phone.
"I'm sorry there's just too much to sort though, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, a scary needle in a haystack in a haunted house. I need more information." Garcia answered as she desperately typed on her keyboard.
"We're looking for something that abducts people not necessarily kills them, abductions happen every decade, long deep scratches in the victims."Morgan said as he listed any information the Winchesters would be aware of.
"Alright, that helps a little. You said scared of fire, bingo we've got a match." Garcia shouted as the intense typing on her keyboard stopped.
"What do you got?"
"A Wendigo. A creature that used to be human but after being trapped in the wilderness usually by a snow storm was forced to resort to cannibalism to survive. Yuck. They are creatures cursed to wander the land, eternally seeking to fulfil their hunger for human flesh and are known to store their food alive all winter long." Garcia rambled, disgusted by what she was reading.
"And here's the kicker, in the late sixties six campers were trapped in the woods near where you are, when rescue arrived only five bodies were found. They had been eaten by what were assumed to be wolves.
"That's why Sam was at the library, he was searching for that article." Rossi nodded.
"Where do they live? If the Winchesters came to the same conclusion as us they're going to be looking for this thing." Hotch asked.
"And if we go searching for the Wendigo we'll find the Winchesters." Garcia stated as she continued her typing, the pink feather in her hair waving side to side as she switched computers. "They live in northern areas, are near perfect hunters that know every inch of their territory which include cave, hill, trees and bushes."
"So the woods." Emily said disappointingly.
"There are only a few caves that are remote and have cavern that could be considered a monsters hiding place." One of the officers added.
"Perfect, let's go." Hotch stated standing up from his chair.
"Bring our girl home." Garcia added through the speaker phone as the team filed out of the room.
The fire spread from the entrance of the cave to the inner tunnels.
"Come on, fresh meat!" Dean shouted. "What' wrong, not afraid of a little fire are you?" Dean mocked hoping to draw the creature's attention while Sam looked for the missing kids.
Hearing something behind him Dean briefly saw a shadow run behind the fire. For a second he caught a glimpses of the creature, its pale skin had no visible hair and its features distorted to a point that any human features it once had was lost. The roaring hiss of the creature echoed through the trees as it circled Dead.
"Right, Wendigo's are fast." Dean muttered as the dark blur appeared again but disappeared just as fast.
Turning his back Dean began firing at the creature, the sound of gun fire a challenging sound that would hopefully draw the creature out.
JJ struggled against the cuffs, she had given up trying to force them off the bed railing and instead tried to use the fork from breakfast to pick the lock. It was obvious that it wasn't going to work, her only chance of leaving this cabin was if her team found her or if Sam and Dean let her go.
Lying back on the bed her thoughts drifted towards Henry and Will, the team and everything in her life. Slowly her thoughts changed, remembering the last few days with the Winchesters. It had been obvious by the first night that the teams profile had been wrong, and with an inaccurate profile she had no idea what to expect.
Then again the team being wrong about the profile might be a blessing. The men they thought they were would have killed her by now, but the real Winchesters didn't seem too bad.
Sam walked sideways as he squeezed between the narrow cave walls. He was lucky for him he was able to find the chamber where the campers were rather quickly. A teenage boy and girl both hung from the ceiling, rope tied around their hands, their clothes matted with dirt and blood. Unfortunately the third victim, Seth, laid on the cave floor, Sam bent down to find a pulse but instantly realized he was too late.
"Who's there?" The girl asked weakly, swaying back and forth with her feet just above the ground.
"Angela, it's okay I'm here to help." Sam whispered as he took out a knife and began cutting her down. "But we have to be very quite." It didn't matter what he said, the girl was waving in and out of consciousness unable to process what he was saying.
...
Once Angela was cut down Sam began working on the boy. He had almost cut through the rope when something shuffled behind him. Turning around Sam faced his older brother, his signature leather jacket covered with dirt and the right sleeve burnt.
"What happened to you?" Sam asked as he cut the boy down.
"I took a freakin' walk through the woods, what do you think happened? I just roasted a damn Wendigo." Dean shouted, taking the boy from Sam and gestured for him to grab the girl.
The BAU team arrived just as the fire department did, the fire truck unable to get though the trees caused the men to arrive in a rescue vehicle as they tried to see if there were anyone in the area as a water helicopter was dispersed.
"Can we get to the caves?" Hotch shouted over the noise.
"The fire is centered around the caves, there's no way to get close." The fire chief stated.
"Looks like the Winchester's beat us here." Rossi muttered, watching the fire burn the surrounding trees.