We hung around Stanford for a week looking for any sign of the thing that killed Jess. We came up with nothing and finally convinced Sam to check out the coordinates. We've been driving for a few hours now, and Sam is asleep in the passenger seat. Dean is listening to his music and I'm in the back, playing with my black nail polish. Suddenly Sam jerks awake and it startles me into sitting forward.
"You okay?" Dean asks him and Sam looks over at him and then back at me before staring out the window.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Sam says and I sigh. Dean just nods, looking back at the road.
"Another nightmare?" Dean asks and Sam clears his throat.
"You wanna drive for a while?" Dean asks, causing me to scoff, and Sam to laugh.
"Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that." Sam says. I nod, kinda pissed.
"Just thought you might want to. Never mind.." Dean says and I get it, he's worried about Sam.
"Look, man, you're worried about me, both of you are. I get it, and I'm perfectly okay." Sam tells both of us, and I shrug.
"Mm-hm." I mutter. Sam gives me a look that says 'I'll tell you later' and I shut up.
Sam grabs the map. "Alright, where are we?" He asks us after looking over the map.
"Just outside of Grand Junction." I tell him, leaning over to point on the map. Sam folds the map.
"Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon." Sam says after a minute.
"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica-" Dean started to say.
"We gotta find dad first." Sam finished. I put my hand on his shoulder and he smiled at me.
"Dad disappearing, and this thing showing up after twenty years, it's no coincidence." Dean says.
"John will have answers, Sam. He'll know what to do." I said squeezing his shoulder with a small smile.
"It's weird, man. These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge." Sam says.
"What about it?" Dean asks, glancing at him.
"There's nothing there, just woods." He says putting the map down. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" He asks as we past a sign that says, 'Welcome to Lost Creek Colorado National Forest'.
We find the Ranger Station and park, as Sam starts to tell us about Blackwater Ridge. We all got out of the Impala and walked over to the Ranger Station, heading inside. Sam walked over to a 3D map of the of the national forest, specifically Blackwater Ridge. Dean is looking at all the decorations, and I walk over to the map, and Sam heads over to Dean. A ranger appears and they both turn around, startled.
"You boys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by chance?" He asks, looking between them.
"Oh, no sir. We're environmental study majors from UC boulder, just working on a paper." Sam lies.
"Recycle, man." Dead says, raising a fist. I smile and roll my eyes.
"Bull." The ranger states, and I clear my throat. He turns around, and looks me up and down, which grosses me out. He's like old enough to be my father. Once his eyes return to my face, he sighs.
"You're all friends with that Haley girl, right?" He asks, and we all nod.
"Yes, yes, Ranger Wilkinson." Dean says, and the ranger looks at us, lingering on me for the longest minute of my life.
"Well, I will tell you what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater unitl the 24th. He isn't exactly a missing person, is he? You tell that girl to stop worrying. Her brother's fine." He asks smugly.
"We will. That Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Dean asks, smirking.
"That's putting it mildly." The ranger said. I step forward and put my hand on my hip, and smile.
"It would help if I could show her a copy of the permit, with her brother's return date. They're like my family, you know?" I say, and the ranger looks me over before going to get a copy of the permit. When he leaves I shiver and groan. Sam chuckles and Dean looks annoyed. I sigh.
"Babe, I got the permit, alright? No harm done." I told him, shrugging. He shakes his head.
"Not to you." Sam smothers a laugh.
"You're jealous!" Sam whisper yells. I smirk.
"Doesn't feel so hot, huh Winchester? Remember that the next time you see a cute girl." I ask kissing him quickly, and he frowns. The ranger comes back and hands me the permit, giving me a quick once over. We head over the Impala and drive to Haley's house. We knock on the door, and a girl, Haley opens the door.
"You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean and this is Sam and Sophie. We're, uh, rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us. We have some questions about your brother.
"Let me see some ID." She says and we show her our fake ID's. She opens the door."Come on in."
"Thanks." I say, walking in. She catches a glimpse of the Impala.
"That yours?" She asks Dean. He nods.
"Nice car." She says as Sam and Dean walk in. I shoot him a look, reminding him about flirting.
After talking with Haley, we're sitting in a bar, with Sam on his laptop looking at the videos that Haley sent him.
"Hey, check this out." He says playing the video.
"Do it again." Dean says, and Sam plays it again.
"That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move." Sam says
Dean hits Sam, and he looks up. "Told you something was going on."
"Yeah." Sam says, closing his laptop. "I got one more thing." Sam hands me a newspaper article.
"In fifty-one one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive." Sam said.
"Is there a name?" Dean asks and I nod.
After talking to the survivor, Mr. Shaw, and seeing the three scars on his shoulder, we're walking to our motel room and Sam and Dean are throwing out possibilities. Once in the room, I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
In the morning, we're loading a duffel bag with guns. I sigh.
"We can't let this Haley girl go out there." I tell them, and Dead scoffs.
"Oh yeah? What are we supposed to tell her, she can't go out there because if the big bad monster?"
"Yeah." Sam says. Deans just looks at him.
"Her brother's missing, Sam. She not gonna sit this out. Now we go with her, protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend." Dean says, picking up the duffel bag.
"Finding dad's not enough? We gotta babysit too?" Sam asks, causing Dean and me, to stare at him.
"What?" He asks looking at us.
"Nothing." Dean and I say. Dean throws the duffel at Sam and walks off.
After we meet up with Haley and her younger brother Ben, and their sleazy guide, Roy, we all head into the forest. Dean and Roy are tossing comments at one another and I walk next to Dean, with my bag of peanut m&ms I made him buy me. I just eat my m&ms, not interfering. Haley walks up to us and stares at us. She looks between us a minute before sighing.
"You didn't pack provisions, you're carrying a duffel bag. You aren't rangers. So who the hell are you?" She asks, grabbing Dean's arm, which causes me to glare at her, until she drops her hand.
"Sam and I are brothers. We're looking for my dad. He might be out here. This is my girlfriend, Sophie." Dean says and I smile a little at the word 'girlfriend'. We didn't label us and he's never said it.
"Why didn't you tell me that from the start?" She asks confused. I just eat another couple m&ms.
"I'm telling you now. Besides this is probably the most honest I've been with a woman other than Sophie. So we okay?" He asks, and Haley looks at us and nods.
"Yeah, okay." She says.
"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" He asks, pointing at my bag of m&ms. I glare at him, pulling the bag out of his reach.
"Nuh-uh. These are mine, Dean." I say, teasingly sticking my tongue out, and walking ahead. Dean and Haley follow behind me.
We find Tommy's camp, and everyone puts their bags down, and we all run into the forest when we hear a scream. When we get back to camp, our stuff's gone. Sam calls us over and pulls out the journal.
"Oh, come on, wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or in northern Michigan. I've never heard of one this far west." He says disbelievingly, but I think about it for a minute.
"Think about it, babe. The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice." I tell him.
"Great. Then this is useless." Dean says pulling out his pistol.
Later on, after we explained what exactly we were looking for, I was drawing Anasazi symbols in the dirt.
"One more time." She says looking at me.
"These are Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross them." I say and Roy snorts.
"Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean says from the edge of the campsite with Sam.
Suddenly, someone screams for help, and we all jump up.
"He's trying to draw us out. Stay cool, stay put." Dean says, grabbing his pistol.
"Inside the magic circle?" Roy asks sarcastically, and I glare at him, shutting him up. He points his gun at the sound and shoots. Then runs into the woods after it. I chase after him, followed by Dean.
"Sophie! What the hell are you doing?" He asks spinning me around, glaring. I shake him off.
"We can't leave him out here!" I argue. He shakes his head.
"He's gone. We'll have a better chance in the day." He says, leading me back to camp.
We told them everything we knew about wendigos. After that, we headed into the forest to look for Roy. I'm standing by a tree, with Haley sitting by it, while Sam and Dean are talking by a tree with a claw mark. Suddenly Haley stands up and rushes away, just before Roy's body drops to where she was sitting. Dean walks over and examines Roy's body, and looks at me.
"His neck's broke." He says and Haley looks at me.
Then we heard loud growling getting closer. Sam hurries over.
"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go,go!" Dean yells and we all split up. I was with Haley and Dean and Sam were with Ben. I turn around and see the boys. Ben falls and Sam and Dean help him up. I turn back and see the wendigo. Haley screams and I look up before everything goes black.
DPOV
Ben fell, so we turned back and helped him up. Just then, we hear a scream.
"Haley!" Ben yells, and runs ahead. Sam and I aren't fare behind. We stop to see Ben standing next to a broken molotov cocktail.
"Sophie!" Dean yells, looking around wildly. Ben looks at Sam, probably because he seemed calmer.
"If it keeps it's victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" He asked, and Sam sighed.
"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off." Sam said, watching Ben bend down and pick something up. It was one of Sophie's peanut m&ms. I laugh, and he hands it to me.
"Better than bread crumbs." I say and we begin to follow the trail. We come to an old mine entrance with a sign that said 'Warning! Danger! Do not enter extremely toxic material' Sam and I shrug and go inside, and Ben follows us. Inside the mine, we hear growling and Sam shuts off the flashlight and I cover Ben's mouth so he can't scream as the wendigo walks past us. Then we fall through the floorboards, falling on a pile of bones, and Ben jumps back. We look up and I see a mess of jet black hair and my black and white checkered shirt.
"Sophie!" I call out, running towards her. She's chained to the ceiling, and she's bloody. I help her down and hold her in my lap. Haley's chained next to where Soph was. She's awake, but looking at me sadly. I look back at Sophie, shaking her.
"Soph, come on, babe. Wake up. Show me those blue eyes. Please." I said, lifting her head. Her face was covered in scratches, and she had a small gash on her forehead.
"Dean? She okay?" Sam asks as he help Haley down. I shake my head.
"It went to her first. It- I looked away but I could hear her screaming." Haley said, voice shaking.
Sam walks over to Sophie and slaps her on the cheek, hard. She jerks and groans.
"Sammy, you ass. That fucking hurt!" She yells and looks back at me, and I sigh in relief. She smirks.
"Had ya'll worried huh? I'm fine, boys." She said, her southern accent sneaking in. It was adorable.
SOPHIE POV
Dean continued to look at me, concern etched on his face, as I stood up, and clutched me side.
"What's wrong?" He asked coming to stand beside me. I laugh and groan immediately after.
"My side hurts a bit. That thing knocked me in the ribs and took a piece outta my shoulder. Plus my ankle's a bit tender." I said, pulling Dean's flannel shirt down to reveal my shoulder, and an open wound. I need stitches. Damn.
We split up and Dean heads off to distract the wendigo so we can get out. I'm slowing Sam down, and he knows it. We hear the wendigo growl, and I get dizzy and trip, causing Sam to come pick me up.
"You have to get them out of here, Sammy. I'm slowing you down." I tell him and he shakes his head.
"I'm not leaving you here, Sophie. Come on." He says, and I shrug his arms off.
"You can hardly walk, Sophie. You need help." Sam says, and Haley nods. I frown. We hear growling getting closer, and we're backed into a corner when we hear Dean yell and then shot it with the flare gun. It turns to ash and I stumble into Dean, and he kisses the top of my head.
Later I'm leaning against the Impala, trying to keep from toppling over, while Dean is talking to Haley.
"Excuse me, my friend over there with the black hair, she was with me and my brothers. She should get looked at because the bear went after her too." Haley told the paramedic who came over with a bag and stretcher.
"Really, I don't need it. I'm fine." I said, through gritted teeth, wincing with every breath I took.
The paramedic insisted and helped me on the stretcher. She helped me take off my flannel, so I was in my tank and jeans, and was examining me when Dean came over and stood next to me.
"How is she?" He asked the paramedic. She wrapped my ribs, which were only bruised, and stitched up my shoulder. She looked up at him, and smiled.
"She'll be fine. Just make sure she takes it easy for a few days." She said, helping me down. I smile.
"Thanks." She nods and walks to the front of the ambulance. We head over to the Impala, which Sam is leaning against.
"You good, Atlanta?" Sam asked me, grinning. I sighed and then winced, grabbing my ribs.
"Fine. Few days and I'll be good as new." I said, and Sam laughed.
"Good. I'm driving." Sam said and Dean tossed the keys and got in the passenger seat. I hobbled over to the back seat and Sam started the car and we were off to find John, and hopefully, some answers.