Disclaimer: I don't own anything Supernatural and I am not making any profits off of this story. It all belongs to the CW and Eric Kripke so, please don't sue and please don't be offended by the language or situations the characters find themselves in.

Chapter 3

Pain, dull and throbbing.

It was cold, so cold through every inch of him.

Those were the first things that registered in Dean Winchester's foggy and dazed mind as consciousness slowly began to return to him.

Hazel-green eyes slowly fluttered open and blinked slowly.

The murkiness slowly faded from his vision, clearing it.

For what seemed an eternity, Dean stared up at the sky, clear with no clouds and the millions of stars twinkling brightly within the sky's endless black expanse.

With a loud groan, the young man forced himself up onto an elbow while he reached up to gingerly touch the sore, aching spot on the side of his head.

Dean hissed at the pain but was pleased that it was just a large bump and not a bloody mess.

" What happened?" Asked Dean to himself as his befuddled mind tried to process his surrounding but at the moment, the gears in his head were still slightly out of sync with each other.

He slowly processed that he was in a clearing surrounded by dark woods, he was on the ground and he must have been knocked out.

Then, something in his brain clicked and he remembered things in rapid succession.

They were hunting a nasty Black Dog.

The thing had been wicked fast and cunning.

It'd faked them out by pretending to go after him but then it had veered and sunk it's teeth into his dad.

It'd sent John flying into a tree, he'd smashed into it and fell to the ground in a heap.

Then the thing had come at him and he gotten a shot off, hitting it in the shoulder.

But that hadn't done any good because the thing had still plowed into him and sent him flying as well, he crashed into the ground and passed out.

... He'd left his baby brother alone and defenseless against the monster that had already knocked him and his dad, the more experienced hunters of the family, out like they'd been nothing.

Cold terror began to seep into Dean's heart.

Sammy.

Where was Sammy?

The older Winchester brother was about to yell out for the youngest when a new noise stopped him.

" Oooooohhhhh..." A low, pain filled groan that sounded older and deeper instantly brought Dean to full alert, the young man turned his head in the direction of where the sound originated from behind him and felt a jolt go through him as his eyes fell on the form of his father laying on his back beside him.

" Dad!" Exclaimed Dean, immediately regretting it as his head twinged with agony.

With a small grunt, Dean shuffled closer to his father to look him over.

He was stunned to see that there was cloth wrapped around tightly around his father's head and leg as make-shift bandages.

Both were moderately saturated with the deep crimson of blood.

He immediately deducted that the patchwork job was Sammy's doing but, when he looked around, Dean felt his terror grow as he realized that he and his father were the only one here in the clearing.

There was no sign of the vicious Black Dog and even more alarming, there was no sign of a shaggy haired thirteen year old boy anywhere.

A scared Dean loomed over his father and began to lightly shake him as he spoke urgently.

" Dad! Dad can you hear me?"

" Y-Yeah, yeah Dean I hear you. AHH GOD!!!" Cried John, his face contorting as the pain of his injuries crashed down on his with the force of a tsunami.

John brought a hand to his head, his fingers grazing over the the cloth wrapped tightly around his head, and the wound that graced his temple.

There was dried and still wet blood caking the side of his face and it made his stomach roll just a little.

Confusion flooded through John before the memories of the events before his impromptu flight into a trees assailed his mind.

With a small gasp, John sat up, well he tried to anyway.

" Woah, easy Dad." Said Dean as he helped his father sit up all the way.

John felt the tempo of his heart sky-rocket as realization dawned on him.

There was only one son by his side, only Dean.

Where was his other child, where was his Sam.

" DEAN WHERE'S YOUR BROTHER, WHERE'S SAMMY?!!!" Screamed John frantically, terror beginning to paint every line of his face.

" Dad, after you got knocked out, that fucking Black Dog came at me and Sam, I got a shot off... I remember I hit it in the shoulder. But it didn't stop, i-it plowed into me... I-I got knocked out too. I-I don't know what happened after that... Sammy had to have made a run for it... he had to have. There's no way he could've taken on that thing..." Dean trailed off as he stared fearfully at his father.

Then, the two oldest Winchesters finally took in their surroundings with clear heads.

The clearing was eerily silent, not even the wind was blowing.

One of the shotguns the Winchesters had brought with them lay discarded near the center of the tree-less ground.

They were the only ones there.

No Black Dog.

And worse, no Sammy.

Then, two heart froze as Dean and John's eyes fell on pool of dark, shiny liquid near the mouth of a trail that led deeper into the woods.

" C'mon Dad, we gotta find Sammy." Said Dean urgently.

John simply nodded and with Dean's help, he climbed to his feet. He leaned on Dean for a few second before he let go, seeing if he could stand on his own.

John stared down at his injured leg and felt another jolt go through him as he eyed the cloth that was wrapped around his wounds in a makeshift bandage.

He recognized it as one of the sleeves from the shirt Sam had been wearing underneath his heavy winter coat.

What had happened?

When had Sam had the time to patch him up?

Clenching his jaw at the pain, John nodded to Dean and the two of them started making there way over to the shiny puddle at the start of the trail.

The the two hunter's drew nearer, they saw that there were several splashes of the dark liquid all over the ground and they continued down the path.

" It must be the Black Dog's blood." Said Dean, he had shot the fucker after all.

" Then we gotta follow the trail fast." Said John.

Dean trotted away from his father for a moment and grabbed up the discarded shotgun, the other one was no where to be found so he assumed that Sam had taken it with him.

Together, the two of them disappeared down the dark, shadowed path, praying with all that they had that their youngest one was still alive.

They stumbled and limped over the long since faded foot prints of their youngest deeper into the darkness.

Half an hour earlier on this night that had fast gone to Hell...

" DEAN NOOOO!!!" Screamed Sam as he watched his brother fly through the air and crash to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Without thinking, Sam raised his gun and fired at the Black Dog.

The filthy beast let out a loud howl as a bullet lodged in it's neck.

It turned to glare at Sam with it's hell-bright eyes and gave a loud, feral snarl.

But, instead of attacking the one who'd caused it new pain, the animal tuned and dove down the path that led deeper into the woods.

But, the thirteen year old did not feel relief at this.

No, his fear spiked because he knew full well that, that thing would be back, and it would be pissed as hell.

But, Sam shook himself out of his fear as he remembered the promises he had made to himself the night before.

Instantly, Sam felt his rage come back full swing.

That Dog may have been angry but it was nothing compared to the fury of Sam Winchester.

That thing was gonna pay for even daring to touch his family.

John and Dean may have hurt him in the deepest of ways but they were still everything to him.

That thing was dead, he was gonna tear it to shreds with his own bare hands.

But at the moment, there was a far more pressing matter.

With a small growl of his own, Sam dropped his gun and ran to his unconscious older brother's side.

He knelt beside Dean and carefully turned his big brother over.

He was glad beyond words to see that Dean wasn't bleeding and his only injury was the blow to his head.

Sam prayed that Dean didn't have a concussion as he twisted his hands into the material of his big brother's winter coat and proceeded to drag the dead weight as fast as he could over the cold hard dirt.

Sam yanked an unconscious Dean over to an equally unconscious John and nearly collapsed from the exertion when he reached where his father lay.

But, Sam didn't indulge his need to rest as he quickly turned to his more grievously injured father and checked out John's injuries.

" Oh Fuck." Whispered Sam, feeling free to use all the colorful language as he wished seeing as to how those who would reprimand him were both out for the time being.

His dad had a gash on near his temple that was oozing red, and his right jeans leg was fast changing from blue to red as well.

Sam hastily shrugged off his winter coat and reached for the left sleeve of his winter shirt.

He gripped the fabric tightly and pulled.

The sound of tearing echoed loudly through Sam's ears as he ripped his sleeve off.

He leaned over and carefully took his father's blood leg into his lap as he quickly and efficiently wrapped the cloth as tightly as he could over the bite wounds.

He tied the two ends off, effectively stifling most of the blood flow.

Then Sam turned his attention to the head wound.

Once again, he reached for his remaining sleeve and wrenched it off.

In the same practiced manner, Sam wrapped his father's head, staunching the three inch gash that graced John's head.

He let out shivering breaths as the cold immediately attacked the now exposed skin of his arms, but he didn't let that deter him as he finished tying off the second make shift bandage.

Despite himself, Sam let one tiny little sob escape him before he killed the urge to breakdown all together.

After all, he'd promised himself to never be a whiny little brat or a selfish freak ever again.

The rage returned and burned away the fear, leaving only the primal urge to kill.

Sam took a deep, steadying breath before he turned to an unconscious Dean, he reached into the inner pocket of his brother's jacket and pulled out the large hunting knife he always carried with him on hunts.

With a lingering look at his father and his big brother, both still trapped in unconsciousness, Sam stood up and wiped his blood stained hands against his pants before he pulled his heavy winter coat back on, tucking the knife into one of his own pockets.

Sam turned away and walked over to where John's forgotten shot gun lay, he picked it up and slung the leather strap that was attached to it over his shoulder.

Then, he headed into the clearing and picked up his hand gun, tucking it into the waist band of his jeans at the base of his back.

He walked till he stood at the mouth of the path the Black Dog had bolted down.

He eyed the dark stains that littered the ground with a pleased feeling.

" Thank's Dean." Thought Sam as he remembered that Dean had been the first to make the beast bleed.

Then, Sam took one last look at his father and big brother where they lay.

He was gonna show them both what kind of hunter he was, he was gonna show them how good he was at killing anything and everything supernatural he was.

He'd show his dad that he wasn't some useless whiny little brat.

He'd show his big brother that he wasn't some bitchy, selfish freak.

But despite all the anger within him, Sam felt his cracked and dented heart bleed and twinge longingly.

The thirteen year old didn't just want to prove his worth to a family whom he believed didn't see any real usefulness in him. No, he had to protect them both because they were at their most vulnerable, and he was their only line of defense.

Though he felt that he didn't matter to the two men lay side by side in the dirt, totally oblivious to the potentially deadly battle he was about to fight, they were all the truly mattered to him.

" If I do die out here tonight... Even after everything you both said to me, I love you guys, I'll always loved you no matter what." Thought Sam.

Then, all thoughts of love and longing evaporated like a snowball tossed inside an oven burning at full blast.

There was still a Black Dog out there in the woods.

That Black Dog was gonna regret ever daring hurt Sam Winchester's family.

That Black Dog was kibble meat.

With a small growl of his own, Sam trotted off down the dark path that led deeper and deeper into the dark woods.

And as explained earlier, half an hour later his bruised and mangled father and older brother followed after his long cold foot falls.