-The Broken Road That Led Me Straight To You-
-Chapter Four-

Rick's features were cold and stony as he walked inside, closing the door slowly with his back turned towards his brother. He may have looked calm to anyone else, but Sam was well aware of the degree of fury that was burning inside his brother, enraged by what happened on the hunt.

Sam stood up quickly from the bed, swallowing hard at the expression on his brother's face. Rick had driven off to the nearest bar — hence the glassy eyes and stumbling steps — as soon as he left Sam at the motel after snapping at him to 'shut the fuck up and leave me alone' when Sam tried to apologize.

Everyone thought the hunt was going quite well at first; the Black Dogs were easy to take down with more hunting partners and a small, confined area where the monsters barely had any chance at escape. Bobby and Dean took the smaller of the two Black Dogs, which had run off deeper into the woods after being shot in the side and right leg — to which Dean irritably commented on the beast's stubbornness — before chasing after the monster. Rick, Sam and John scattered around and surrounded the other, the larger and stronger Black Dog, shooting it thrice in its left thigh and once in its right calf to weaken it and prevent it from also running like its companion, before it crumpled and fell, its chest heaving and breaths coming out in heavy pants.

That's when things started going wrong.

Sam was so engrossed in his aim as he shifted his feet to the side that he didn't notice a large, heavy rock lying in his way as he moved to a place where he could get a good view and shoot the monster right on the mark. He also didn't notice his older brother, standing right beside the rock on the other side.

And thus, he tripped over said rock and collided with Rick, causing them both to fall in a messy heap and also bruise Sam's ankle along the process. There was a sound of an explosion — Rick's gun going off — and then a brief scream from far away.

And when they looked over, they saw John holding his shoulder with his face scrunched up in pain, blood seeping through his hands from the wound. Fortunately and unfortunately, that was the time when Bobby and Dean decided to join them again. The Wesson brothers quickly got to their feet and killed the remaining Black Dog — with a few extra shots to the head to make sure it was dead — and then focused their entire attention on the injured hunter. Dean wasn't very happy at seeing his father bleeding and hurt, demanding answers, and Rick was the one who started apologizing profusely, while Sam just stood off to one side silently even with his ankle aching like hell, heart racing fast and his limbs trembling with terror as he realized what he had brought down upon his head.

"I'm really sorry, man." Rick apologized, simpering. "My brother here . . . " He pointed at Sam. "He must have tripped over that rock there and crashed into me, screwing up my aim."

Sam swallowed hard, terror coloring his expression, his eyes wide with fear while his head was ducked down, hiding behind his bangs and just wishing he could disappear into thin air. He didn't want to think about what Rick is going to do to him as soon as they get back to their motel room, but it was all he could think of; so many different scenarios flooding his mind on how his older brother's going to punish him for this mistake.

"It's okay, guys. It's just a flesh wound anyway, nothin' we haven't dealt with before, right Dean?" John said, his tone insisting Dean to agree and not lose his temper on the poor hunters. It was an accident after all; could have happened to anyone.

Except . . . Dean didn't sound even slightly angry. "It's nothing new in our line of work, you know. Don't sweat it, Sammy," He said with a reassuring smile, seemingly noticing the distress and fear on the kid's face even though he could only catch a glimpse of it; the trembling of the younger hunter's limbs didn't go unseen by Dean either and he frowned in confusion. He expected the boy to nod and maybe say something about being more careful on future hunts but the fear on Sam's face seemed etched into his features and didn't disappear at Dean's words.

Sam barely contained the flinch at the nickname — having been called that mockingly by his brother a lot in the past and still in the present — and swallowed thickly, nodding jerkily. He truly felt guilty for what he had done, really guilty, but he knew that wouldn't be enough for Rick.

Sam was snapped out of his reverie by a sharp pain shooting across his cheekbone, and found himself lying on the floor, the edges of his vision blurring at the impact. He looked up at his older brother's hateful and angry gaze, a snarl twisting Rick's features as he stared down at him.

And Sam couldn't stop himself from ducking his head again, trying to hide behind his bangs from the intensity of Rick's furious gaze. There was a whiskey bottle in his aggressor's hand, and Rick brought it to his mouth to chug it down without even stopping to take a breath, his murderous gaze on his younger sibling the whole time. The content of the bottle was almost half empty before Rick jerked it out of his snarling mouth.

Rick glowered down at the figure lying below him, rage burning like flames in his olive orbs. He enjoyed the small satisfaction he felt at the fear in his victim's wide, lowered eyes; in the slight trembles of his limbs.

But it wasn't enough for him. He wanted more.

He wanted the younger boy to whimper, to cry, to sob; wanted his whole body to quake as he begged, he wanted his brother to stutter and trip over his words; he wanted to see pure, unadulterated terror in his eyes. Sam deserved it, for what he had done.

"You humiliated me." He whispered angrily, his voice slurring drunkenly from the alcohol in his system; an enraged snarl twisting his features.

"M'sorry." Sam whispered softly, swallowing hard as tears gathered on the edges of his eyes. His heart pounded rapidly against his ribcage, fear clenching his gut; and suddenly, the temperature in the room felt a few degrees higher.

Sam gasped loudly and dropped to the ground instinctively when the glass bottle shot over his head, crashing into the wall behind him; and the shards rained down over his prostrate form, some of them cutting through the fabric and biting into his skin.

"YOU FUCKING HUMILIATED ME! AND NOW YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU'RE SORRY?!" Rick screamed at the curled up figure that was trying to make itself smaller with each bellowed word, red hot rage filling his entire being and burning his chest.

Sam's body shamefully trembled, the tears being caged in his eyes released as tiny droplets of salty water fell and soaked the carpet, the fabric absorbing the dampness in; and he tried his hardest to hold the pent up sobs building in his throat.

But a small shaky one emerged from his lips before he could stop it.

And he froze.

Because he wasn't supposed to cry. It only made Rick even more furious, which meant more punishment and more pain; and he desperately hoped his brother didn't notice; didn't hear that small sound.

Then he was being pulled up against his will, standing on his knees with a fist curled tightly into both sides of his shirt.

Rick squinted at him through his drunken vision, bent down slightly as he scrutinized his younger sibling's bowed face. Shuddery breaths warmed his face, and he laughed darkly as he saw the droplets of tears fall on the floor.

And then his expression morphed into something else, something that visibly resembled pure disgust and profound hate. "Fucking baby." He snarled angrily, his voice low.

He kicked his boot swift and hard into his victim's gut, smiling with sick amusement at the soft gasp he elicited from him. He felt two hands clench into the lower part of his shirt, and he looked down to find his brother using it to hold himself up on his knees, his twisted features an open display of pain and fear.

And soon, that fear would transform into terror. Rick would make sure of that.

Author's Note: Okay, I tried.

I swear I tried.

I tried to write the hunt, you know, action and all. But I just couldn't! I wrote it and then showed it to my friend and beta, AlElizabeth (A big thanks to her!), aaaand... she didn't get what was happening in it. So I just decided to explain it all rather than show it.

Sorry for the late updates. My ongoing writer's block (not sure if it can be called that, but it's close) and my mobile has a limit to writing more than 1400 words and my computer is screwed. I'm currently on my brother's computer, with my sister sleeping behind me, and I'm extremely self-conscious right now. LOL!

Reviews are chocolate. :)