Chapter 4
While Dean was driving to the Blackwater Ridge trail, I was in the backseat putting on clothes that wouldn't kill you when you're hiking. Just because they were okay hiking in the wilderness with their street clothes didn't mean I was. I put on my heavy duty jeans and my hiking boots and made sure that I was dressing in layers. I had my journal and a few water bottles and food supplies in my backpack plus my loaded Smith and Wesson with extra bullets.
We pulled up and saw that Haley and her brother, Ben, were already there with their guide. We got out of the car and I swung my backpack over my shoulder at the same awkward moment Sam swung the weapon duffel over his back.
"Got room for three more?" Dean asked as we walked up to them.
"Who are they?" The guide asked.
"Apparently they're all that park service could muster up for a search and rescue party," Haley told him.
"You're rangers?" The guide asked, very skeptical.
"That's right," Dean said.
"You're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley asked, flirting a little as she had an excuse to check him out. I stood next to Dean and grinned up at her.
"Please, don't let their stupidity give you doubts about us," I told her. I inched a little closer to Dean so that maybe she would get the idea and back off. She looked me over.
"I don't do shorts, anyway," Dean added. I started to walk up the trail following Sam, and Dean followed after me.
"This isn't a joke. These are dangerous backcountries and her brother could seriously be hurt." The guide said. I almost scoffed as Dean and I turned around to look at him.
"Believe me," Dean said, "we know how dangerous it can be."
"We just want to help her find her brother is all," I said.
...
As we hiked I stayed close to Dean who was questioning Roy, the guide, about the types of animals he hunted.
"So has Bambi or Yogi ever fought back?" Dean asked, a little sarcastically. Roy grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him back. Dean looked at him in surprise. "Whatcha doing there, Roy?"
Roy let go of him and then picked up a stick. He poked the spot that Dean had just been about to step in and a bear trap closed it's claws around the stick, breaking it. I grabbed Dean's arm fearfully. That could have easily been his foot.
"Better watch where you're stepping," Roy said, "Ranger."
"It's a bear trap," Dean said, looking at me. He was trying to play off his surprise with humor. I smiled a little back as we kept on walking.
Haley walked ahead of us and stopped us.
"You guys didn't bring any provisions," I scoffed, again. With all the scoffing I was doing I was probably going to end up inhaling a bunch of dust and lose my voice. I brought provisions. It's not my fault Dean and Sam didn't think about these things. "All you brought was a duffle. You guys aren't rangers so who the hell are you?"
Dean sighed and looked at Sam and me before nodding, telling us to go ahead. I raised an eyebrow, not really wanting to leave him alone with her especially when she was so obviously interested in him. Sam grabbed my arm and dragged me after Roy and Ben.
I looked back at Dean and Haley and watched as he told her whatever it is that he was going to tell her.
Five to ten minutes later, Dean caught up with us, now eating out of a giant bag of peanut M&M's. He grinned at me and held the bag out. I smiled and took a few, popping them in my mouth. Haley hiked ahead of us and soon it was Dean and I trailing the pack.
"What did you tell her?" I asked. He shrugged.
"The truth," he said. I rolled my eyes. The truth could have been anything. "That Sam and I were brothers and we were looking for our dad."
"And?" I asked. He smirked.
"That she can't speak a word of us being together otherwise I'd let whatever's out there eat her brother." I smirked back and nudged him.
"That probably wasn't very nice," I said. He shrugged.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't about to tell her you were my sister." He shivered. "She's been giving me looks this whole time."
"Oh, so you have noticed," I said sarcastically.
...
We finally stopped after a few more hours.
"Here we are," Roy said, "Blackwater Ridge."
"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked. I set my bag down and looked around.
Roy pulled out his satellite reader. "35, -111."
Dean and I glanced at each other and walked over to where Sam was standing. We all looked out into the forest around us and I felt shivers all up and down my spine. I turned to look at Dean.
"Do you hear that?" Dean asked. Sam nodded.
"There's nothing," I said.
"Not even crickets," he added. I glanced up at Dean again and saw a familiar look on his face.
"What is it?" I asked. "Are you getting a bad feeling?"
He sighed and looked down at me before he nodded.
"I'm gonna go take a look around," Roy said. We turned to look at him.
"You shouldn't go off alone," Sam said. Roy smirked at him.
"That's sweet, but I'll be fine." He said, taking off with his gun in hand. I turned back to the boys and shrugged. Oh well, he was kind of an asshole anyway.
Dean addressed the rest of the group. "All right, we should stick together," he said.
I took out one of my water bottles and wiped the sweat off my brow as the others started up again. It was such a shame we couldn't just camp like normal people. It was really beautiful out here. I started walking after them but almost ran straight into Dean.
"Give me your bag," he said, holding out his hand for it. I held it close to me and gave him a look.
"Why?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.
"I feel bad that I haven't offered to carry it for you before," he admitted. "So let me carry it now."
I looked down at my old black JanSport with virtually nothing inside it and shook my head.
"It's seriously not heavy at all," I told him. "You should feel bad about making Sam carry the duffel this whole time."
He didn't say anything and I smirked.
"Oh, so you do feel bad about that, just not bad enough to relieve him of it. But you just want to make yourself look better by being all chivalrous with me and my 5 lb bag." I put it back on with a laugh. "Thanks, but no thanks; you can walk around with the guilt. I'm sure it's heavier than my backpack."
He glared at me as we caught up with the rest of the group.
"Fine, be that way." He said.
"Haley!" Roy called, "over here!"
We all quickly ran over to where Roy was and we stopped in our tracks when we saw what Roy had found. It was her brother's campsite. It was all torn to shreds with blood everywhere. The tent had been ripped apart and all their things were thrown everywhere.
"Tommy!" Haley called. "Tommy!"
I looked on the ground and followed a trail of blood, Dean following me.
Sam shh'd her, telling her that something might still have been out there.
"It dragged their bodies," I said in horror, pointing to the straight trail of blood leading away from the campsite. Dean called Sam over and showed him.
"The tracks vanish right here," he said. "It's weird."
I shook my head and pulled out my journal and flipped to a certain page. I had been running the possibility through my head this whole time but had been hoping that I was wrong.
We walked back to the campsite where Haley had found her brother's phone. I pulled Dean back and showed him the page in my journal. He started to read it, thankfully without humming Scarborough Fair, and he looked up at me with raised eyebrows when he finished.
"Are you sure?" He asked. I nodded.
"Look around," I told him quietly. "This thing is quick and it obviously knows what it's doing."
Dean nodded and helped me put the journal back in my backpack.
"Help!" We heard from far off. My heart leapt in my throat and I really wanted my crossbow from the duffel.
I followed after the others as they all ran after the voice, but the problem was we couldn't really tell where it was coming from.
"Dean," I whispered.
"Everyone back to camp," Sam said, "right now."
When we got there all the packs were gone.
"Dean, Rose," Sam said, "I need to talk to you in private."
We walked off a little ways away and I looked around nervously.
"I'm definitely right," I said. Sam asked for John's journal and started flipping through pages until he found a page that matched the one in mine. Dean nodded.
"You guys are sure?" He asked, again.
"It has to be," I said. "It can imitate human voices."
"And the claws," Sam added. Now I didn't even feel safe with my crossbow.
"I've never heard of a Wendigo this far out west before," Dean said. He sighed and put John's journal away. "Great, our weapons are useless."
"We have to get these people out of here," Sam said, heading back to the others. "Time to pack up and leave. We're getting out of here."
"What?" Haley said.
"Things just got a whole lot more complicated," Sam said. Dean grabbed my hand and I turned to look at him.
"What's going through your mind?" He asked. I took a deep breath.
"I'm thinking about everything we've ever hunted, the Chichevache, the faeries, the demons and spirits and that fucking mermaid." I looked up at him and shook my head. "Those things I feel like I can handle but this…"
"I know," Dean said. We looked over where Sam and Roy were arguing.
"Shit just hit the fan, Dean." I said, looking back at him. "We're in the middle of nowhere and we not only have to watch our own backs while trying to get rid of this thing but we have to worry about the others too."
"You're in no position to be giving orders," Roy snapped at Sam. Dean looked up at them before looking back down at me.
"We have no way to kill that thing," I said. Dean grabbed my shoulders and bent down to eye level, making sure I was looking him in the eyes.
"We can do this, all right." He said. "We need to torch the sucker, and we'll make it happen."
"I was going to bring flares," I said quietly. I was beginning to get nauseous. "But I didn't. I took them out at last minute."
Sam and Roy were now in each other's faces. Sam was about to yell out what we were hunting but Dean pushed them away from each other.
"Just chill out," Dean said. Haley turned to us.
"My brother could still be out there, alive." She said. Dean nodded.
"This thing is a good hunter during the day, but it's an unbelievable hunter at night." Dean said.
"And it's getting dark which means the only thing we can do right now is settle in and protect ourselves." I said. I put my backpack down and started sifting through it. I grabbed my journal and found some Anasazi symbols that we could use to protect ourselves from them
"How?" Haley asked. I ignored her and showed the page to Dean.
"The Wendigo can't cross these," I told him. He nodded and started drawing the symbols in the ground all around our campsite.
We made a small fire and I read everything I had in my journal and John's about the Wendigo. I was trying not to pay attention to Haley who was watching every single move Dean made. I reached down and felt my crossbow at my feet. Even though I knew it wouldn't help it made me feel a little bit better. I also think it made Haley scared of me, which helped a little for other reasons.
"What are those?" She asked about the symbols. Dean told her and Roy laughed at him. I rolled my eyes.
"Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean said as he finished and brushed the dirt off his knees. He looked over to where Sam was sitting on his own and he went to sit by him. I left them alone, figuring Dean was going to cross the C.F.M. line to ask Sam how he was doing.
"So," Haley said. I turned from the brothers to look at her. "How long have you and Dean been together?"
"For almost four years," I told her. She opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"And Sam doesn't know?" She asked. "I'm guessing that's why Dean didn't want me to say anything about it."
"Sam just recently started traveling with us again." I told her. I sighed and shook my head. "It's really none of your business."
She shrugged. "I know, there's just nothing else to do except for talk."
I ignored her and looked through my journal.
"Are you going to tell him soon?" She asked. I looked up and glared at her.
"Okay, seriously, that's way far into the 'none of your business' zone." I told her. She held her hands up in defense. "Just drop it and try to find your own boyfriend, 'kay?"
Dean and Sam came back over and Dean sat down next to me. He seemed to notice something was wrong. Sam went over to where Ben was sitting to try and see how he was doing. I felt bad for the kid, nobody was really giving him the time of day and here he was stuck in this shit hole of a problem just like us.
"Are you okay?" Dean asked. He rubbed my back gently. I noticed Haley get a little tense and I almost smirked. I looked up at him and shook my head.
"Just a little nervous about how we're going to get ourselves out of this one." I said quietly. He chuckled and nodded.
"Yeah, we've definitely been in some weird situations." I smiled softly.
"We need fire to kill this thing, but besides our little campfire we don't have much." I said. Dean inched a little closer to me and I looked up at Sam. He was still talking to Ben. I turned to Haley and saw her quickly look away.
"We just need to make it through the night and then we'll figure out what we'll do tomorrow. And I also have a bit of lighter fluid." I closed my eyes and rested my head against his shoulder.
"What did you and Sam talk about?" I asked. I knew he wouldn't tell me if it was personal, but just in case it wasn't I still wanted to know.
"I don't think that dad was ever here," He said. I nodded. I had kind of had that feeling in the beginning. "He left us his journal. He never goes anywhere without it and I…"
"You think he wants us to take over the family business," I finished. Dean nodded. I looked up at him, pulling away from his shoulder. "Do you think he's in any sort of trouble?"
Dean exhaled and shook his head. "I really don't know."
"Help!" Everyone sat up and started looking around. "Help me! Help!"
"It's the Wendigo," I said.
"Everyone just stay where they are." Dean said. Roy laughed again.
"Inside the magic circle?" He asked.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves, Roy." I said, glaring at him. He scoffed.
"Likewise, sweetheart," He sneered. Haley walked over to Ben and tried to keep him calm.
"Help!"
Roy started shooting at it and we heard it scream in pain. It was just trying to make us think that we had hurt it, since normal weapons didn't do anything to it.
"I hit it!" Roy yelled. He started to run after it.
"No! Roy, no!" Dean yelled. He quickly turned to Haley, Ben and I. "Don't move!"
Dean and Sam ran after Roy and I took a deep breath, looking around in the trees. I couldn't see anything so I moved back over to the fire. Haley and Ben sat down around it as well and we waited for the others to come back. I didn't want to admit how terrified I was when Dean wasn't around and I just wanted him to come back and make everything okay.
They came back after a while but the Wendigo had already gotten to Roy. I ran to Dean as soon as I saw him and wrapped my arms around him, my heart thumping in my chest.
"Oh, thank god." I said in his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and guided me after Sam back into the protected circle.
"Nobody leaves this area," Dean snapped at Haley and Ben. "Got it?"
...
When the sun finally came up I was nauseous with relief. If that makes any sense. None of us had slept a wink and I knew it was going to take some extreme will power and strength to get rid of this creature.
"These things aren't supposed to be real," Haley said. "They're only supposed to exist in scary movies and ghost stories."
"Well, they are real," I told her. "You'd probably better start paying more attention to ghost stories because I'll bet you 3/4's of them are true."
"How do you know all this?" She asked. Dean and I glanced at each other.
"It's kind of the family business," Dean answered. Haley didn't know what he meant, but she dropped it. People are usually vague for a reason and I'm glad that Haley had finally realized not to pry when we were the ones being vague.
"We stand half a chance in the daylight," Sam said, "and I, for one, want to kill this son of a bitch."
Dean laughed. "Well, you know I'm in."
"So, what is it exactly?" Haley asked.
"A Wendigo," I said. She shook her head, not understanding.
"The Wendigo is an Indian word," Sam said. "It means evil that devours."
"They are centuries old and each one used to be a man. Usually an Indian but sometimes a miner or a hunter." Dean said.
"How does a man turn into that?" Haley asked.
"It's always the same story," I said. "It's a harsh winter and one guy finds himself starving just a little bit more than the next guy. So he becomes a cannibal and eats the next guy and then the rest of their tribe."
"Kind of like the Donner Party." Ben said. I nodded and gave him a small smile. He hadn't spoken much and I felt bad for him. Plus he wasn't as annoying as his sister.
"Lots of different cultures all over the world believe that if you eat human flesh it gives you certain abilities." Sam said. "Like super speed, strength and immortality."
"If you eat enough of it you become less of a human. You're always hungry." Dean said. Haley glanced between us.
"If all of this is true, then how could Tommy still be alive?" She asked. I bit my lip and looked at Sam and Dean.
"You're probably not going to like this." I said. She glared at me.
"Tell me."
"They know how to survive long winters without food. It can hibernate for years, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It feeds off of them whenever it wants." Dean told her. She looked like she was about to be sick to her stomach and I could understand that. I'd feel the same way if I were in her shoes. "The Wendigo is keeping Tommy somewhere dark and hidden."
"So how do we stop it?" She asked.
"Not with any weapons we might have," I said, glancing at our duffel.
"Basically we gotta torch the sucker," Dean said, taking lighter fluid out of his pocket.
...
We found a trail of bloody claw marks on the trees and I was getting a bad feeling about this. Well, I had been having a constant bad feeling since we got here, but the point was that something was definitely not right.
"Guys," Sam pulled Dean and me aside. "These marks, the claw marks are so clear and distinct. They're almost too easy to follow."
We glanced at each other. He was right.
"Rose, stay close to me, okay?" Dean said quietly. I nodded as the trees all around us started to shake. The Wendigo had been following us the whole time. Hailey backed up against a tree and something large fell on top of her. She screamed and pushed it aside. Dean rolled it over and we saw that it was Roy.
"His neck is broken. Run!" Dean yelled, grabbing my hand. Everyone was running in different directions and I looked back to see where Sam was but I tripped and let go of Dean's hand. Someone helped me up and made me keep running.
We finally stopped and I noticed it had been Sam who helped me up. My heart dropped when I only saw Ben with us.
"Where's Dean?" I asked quickly. "Dean!"
"Haley!" Ben yelled.
"Oh my god," I cried. "It got them."
Sam grabbed me by my shoulders.
"They're okay," he looked at Ben to make sure he was listening to him, too. "They're gonna be fine."
I took a deep breath and nodded. We walked back to the last place I had seen Dean before I tripped. A few feet away Sam picked up the lighter fluid that Dean had had. I tried to keep calm, but how the hell was I going to do that when the only real reason I had for living had just been taken by the Wendigo? I looked at Ben and I knew I had to stay calm for him.
"Why did it kill Roy?" Ben asked. Sam and I glanced at each other.
"Honestly," Sam asked. Ben nodded. "Probably because Roy shot at it and pissed it off."
I started looking around for any sign of where they had gone and smiled when I saw brightly colored M&M's on the ground. I bent down and picked it up, looking ahead at the trail.
"Look," I said. Sam grinned as I stood up and put it in his hand.
"Way better than bread crumbs," Sam said. We followed the trail all the way to an abandoned mine. There were warning signs and signs that said 'Keep Out' everywhere but we ignored them as we snuck in quietly. We walked through the entrance to a tunnel and heard growls bouncing off the walls. Sam pressed against the side and I grabbed Ben and followed Sam's lead.
It passed right in front of us and Ben was about to yell out but Sam put his hand on his mouth. The Wendigo walked out of the mine and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We continued walking and I turned to look behind me just in case and I heard a crash. I turned back to Sam and Ben only to find a hole in the ground where they had been standing. I rushed forward and saw them sprawled out on the ground.
"Sam," I called quietly. He lifted his hand and I heard Ben groan. I grabbed the side of the hole and lowered myself down, looking around. My breath hitched in my throat. "Oh god."
I ran forward to Dean, hanging from the ceiling. Haley was next to him. I caressed his face.
"Dean," I said, "Dean wake up, come on. Dammit Winchester, wake the fuck up!"
He groaned and opened his eyes and saw me. "Now that's a sight I like to see."
I smiled and Sam cut them both down. I helped Dean down to the floor, he was in a lot of obvious pain but he tried to play it off.
"I'm fine, I promise."
Haley cursed and walked over to another body that had been hanging from the ceiling. I guessed it was Tommy. She called his name until he opened his eyes and she made Sam cut him down too.
I looked around the room and grinned at our luck. I bent down and grabbed the bag and showed it to Dean.
"Well, look what we have here." Dean said. He held up the flare guns and showed Sam. "I think these will do the trick."
Sam nodded. There were only two guns in the bag and the same amount of flares so Sam and Dean took them. They'd have to be sure that they aimed correctly, otherwise we were screwed. We started to make our way out of the mine when we heard the Wendigo come back. We stopped and Sam, Dean and I all glanced at each other.
"Are you two thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean asked. I sighed and looked at Sam.
"Yeah, I think so," Sam said. Dean nodded and addressed the other three.
"Stay with Sam and Rose," he told them before running off.
"What are you going to do?" Haley asked. I sighed again and shook my head. Dean loved being bait.
"Chow time you freaky bastard!" He yelled, running through the mine away from the entrance. "Bring it on baby! You want some white meat, bitch? I'm right here!"
I laughed.
"Such amazing live bait," I said. Sam nodded and we started trying to find our way out as well. We stayed far from Dean so the Wendigo would keep after him. We hit a dead end and I turned around to start going the other way. I heard it growl behind me and turned around again to see it had cornered the others.
Sam pushed himself in front of the others and raised the flare gun. As soon as he shot the gun, the Wendigo dodged out of the way and the flare grazed against my arm in searing pain.
"Oh my god!" I screamed, falling to my knees and holding my arm. The pain was blinding.
"Holy shit, Rose, are you okay?" Sam ran forward and pulled my hand away, grimacing when he saw. I looked down. Definitely going to be another scar to add to the collection.
"There's gauze in my bag," I said, "just wrap it quickly and let's get out of here."
As soon as Sam started wrapping the gauze around my arm the Wendigo showed up again, hovering over us.
"Shit," I cried.
"Hey!" The Wendigo turned and I saw Dean standing behind it with the flare raised. He shot it and it lit up in flames, burning to the ground. Everyone collectively let out a sigh of relief until Dean saw I was hurt and rushed forward, pushing Sam out of the way.
"What happened?" Dean asked, wrapping the gauze more gently than I had noticed Sam wrapping it. I cringed when he touched the burned skin around it.
"I got grazed by Sam's flare," I said. Dean turned to glare at Sam. "It wasn't his fault, the Wendigo dodged the shot."
...
We had finally made it back to the Ranger's Station and there were ambulances and police already waiting. They immediately started working on Tommy and one of them undressed my wound and fixed it up properly.
While the paramedic, who was really cute by the by, was rubbing an ointment on my burns, Dean stood nearby watching closely to make sure he didn't try anything.
"Are you sure it's okay?" Dean asked me. "You don't need to go to the hospital."
"She probably should, just in case," the paramedic said. Dean glared at him and he quickly shut up and wrapped my arm up with clean gauze.
"I'll be okay," I told him. He nodded and squeezed my hand. Haley came up and asked to speak to Dean in private. He glanced at me before nodding and following her a little ways away.
I watched them like a hawk as Sam came up to me. I wanted to make sure she didn't do anything that she'd regret. I clenched my fist when she kissed him on the cheek and he glanced up at me with wide eyes when she did it too.
She turned around and came over to us, thanking us as well before leaving in the ambulance with her brothers.
"You're all set to go," the paramedic said. I smiled in thanks and hopped off the back of his truck and Dean led me over to the Impala. We sat down on the hood and Sam followed suit soon after.
"I hate camping," Dean said. I laughed.
"I'm not sure that really counted as camping," I said. "There weren't any s'mores or anything."
Dean laughed and nodded. He looked up at Sam. "You know we'll find dad, right?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah… but in the meantime… I'm driving."
I smirked and looked at Dean. He looked like he was kicking himself, yet again, before sighing and tossing him the keys.
"Shotgun!" I called, running to the front seat.
"Oh hell no," Dean said. He ran after me and picked me up, turning me and setting me down so I was standing next to the back seat door instead. I pouted and crossed my arms.
"Slut," I said. He smirked and shrugged before getting into the car.
...
...
So here's the part where I apologize for taking so freaking long to update and also for not replying to everyone's amazing reviews! I've seriously been slacking lately and I wish I could tell you that I'll update sooner and reply to everyone, but I really can't :( I'm doing the best I can right now, with so much stuff on my plate.
I appreciate every single review I get, even the really short ones! They all make me very happy and smile and I honestly reread them when I need the motivation to update for you guys.
Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. You should all leave me some wonderful reviews. Any review that I get today, Sunday, November 7, will get a response from me. I promise! I'll try to update as soon as I can and I'll try to respond to the rest of the reviews I get after today. I love you all, you're awesome!
-Erin