Hey, so i thought that this would be the last chapter, apparantly I have one more up my sleeve after this. I just have to write it. Sorry if there are any mistakes, I'm tired but I wanted to get this up before I move out tomorrow. Anyways, hope you enjoy it =]

Chapter 14

I looked to Sam and Dean for help. For the briefest moment I contemplated throwing the knife but I wouldn't be able to throw it hard enough for it to even break skin. That only left running but I'd be dead as soon as I take one step. In my state of pure fear I could see no other way out of it.

"Dean!" Sam called out startling me, Dean was already ahead of Sam he had the gun poised and aimed at the Shapeshifter and squeezed the trigger. The noise of the gun was suffocated by the wailing sirens, it was utter chaos. I closed my eyes not wanting to witness it, no matter how many times I'd seen death of someone or something it never got easier.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean shouted. I snapped open my eyes, the Shapeshifter hadn't gone down as expected. It had managed to anticipate the bullet and tried to side step it. I say tried for there was a huge gaping wound on its left arm. It was sort of satisfying to see that between us we'd managed to bring it closer to its downfall after all the trouble we'd had.

The Shapeshifter stared venomously at Dean, "That hurt."

"Good," Dean replied.

We weren't out of the woods yet but it was enough to take out its gun, now we stood a much better chance. With our attention claimed by the Shapeshifter we hadn't realised how rapidly the other officers had reached the house. "Put your weapons down and arms where we can see them!" one of the officers shouted. We'd been surrounded.

"What are you waiting for, get them already!" the Shapeshifter hollered hysterically. The phrase shit creek without a paddle springs to mind. I could go to jail or worse die. Our only hope lay with the Deputy who probably thought we were stark raving mad. At least if she did we might not go to jail, we'd just get committed and locked up for eternity. Jail was fast becoming our best bet. Instinctively I edged closer to Sam and Dean as I set down the knife. Once again it was either fight or flight. I favoured flight but we had no place to run, the Winchester's on the other hand looked like they favoured fight. Of course they bloody well would.

"Wait!" I cried desperately with my new found confidence. My new found confidence that was fading fast as every pair of eyes turned on me, "J-j-just listen to us."

"Like we haven't heard that before," one of the officers to my left commented.

I knew it was hopeless trying but I needed them to see the truth, we all did. "Listen buddy," Dean cut in, "That isn't your Sheriff."

"Nice try but I wasn't born yesterday. If I'm honest that was probably the worst attempt I've ever heard for trying to escape arrest," the same officer replied. The Sheriff or rather Shapeshifter smirked at us. Where the hell was the Deputy? She had to believe us by now, after hearing the horrific reasoning behind its actions.

"We're not trying to escape," Sam tried to reason. Dean and I both turned to look at him, was he being serious? I thought the whole point was to try and find a way out of this where we weren't arrested.

"Owen, listen to them," the Deputy barked from a few meters behind us and about time too, "that isn't the Sheriff, the Sheriff is dead."

Who in their right mind was going to believe? If I was in their shoes I sure as hell wouldn't but we needed to them to trust that the three strangers they had surrounded were right. We were getting desperate but with the Deputy now at least willing to accept our explanation things were certainly looking up.

"Don't listen to her, she's been working with these monsters all along," the Shapeshifter was also getting desperate. I highly doubted that he would be able to keep up his persona for long. Eventually he would slip up or we would get lucky. The wound on its arm had made an impact, a satisfying one at that.

The Deputy stepped towards the Shapeshifter, stopping just short of it. The officers were beyond baffled. Something they were unable to keep hidden from their faces. Now was the time for us to claim an advantage. I was thinking of something along the lines of another distraction but I was fresh out of ideas, I was too occupied with the various weapons aimed in our general direction.

"Arrest them, the Deputy to, she's been feeding them information the entire time," the Shapeshifter claimed. It seemed that was all the officers needed. In their eyes the Sheriff was to be believed over the Deputy and who could blame them. The way the situation looked upon their arrival was the only real piece of information they had to go on.

I longingly eyed the knife I'd had to kick a short distance away with. If I could pick it up quick enough and stab the Shapeshifter it might allow Sam and Dean to get away. The moment I did that though I'd be welcoming their gunfire with open arms. It didn't matter; we didn't have the time to do anything. The Shapeshifter had won. One of the officers speedily withdrew his handcuffs and snapped them on my risk. I didn't struggle, what good would it do? I was only slightly aware that certainly Dean and possibly Sam were trying to resist. I may as well have just saved myself the hassle and waltzed into the police station and handed myself in from the start either way I'd have cold metal digging into my wrists.

Acceptance of my fate seemed the only way forward. Acceptance that I'd wasted over a year doing what with my life? Chasing ghosts like a character from a film. No jury would believe me; I'd be locked up immediately in a loony bin. I would never Sam again; I don't think I'd be able to cope with being alone after discovering I didn't need to shut everyone out. It was all this damn Shapeshifter's fault. The only hope I was left with was that someday some other hunter would annihilate the Shapeshifter and achieve what we had failed so miserably at.

Locked into my own downwards spiral of regret and despair that I was trying to pass off as acceptance, I'd once again managed to block out everything else around me. "Alice!" Sam called but I didn't acknowledge him or the movement around me. I was just rooted to the spot until forced to do otherwise. "Alice, snap out of it!" that was Sam's voice again. I looked over to Sam but he wasn't their, the only person there was an officer lying unconscious. I slowly snapped, as Sam had put it, out of my lifeless trance. If Sam wasn't there where was he.

"Sam?" I called quietly not sure whether or not I was imagining that events had taken a turn for the better. I couldn't be. Sam was trying to fight off another officer who had tried to do what the unconscious officer had tried but again to no avail. Sam had managed to break away from the officer that had held him so it was highly probable that Dean had achieved the same. Sure enough he had, smart move unlike what I'd done. I was helpless to do anything; with my arms held behind my back my movement was restricted. I tried as hard as I could to shrug off the officer and at the very least get away from him. It was hopeless though, the officer had a tight grip on my arm to the point that it made me wince. Right then and there I hated being a girl, I just didn't have the strength despite the job I'd been doing for the past year.

Unable to fight against the officer holding me, who I was starting to think was like the Incredible Hulk, I resorted to words, "will you let go off me. We're telling the truth, touch its skin, it sheds it. You're making a mistake," the officer tightened his grip on my arm. I would certainly have a bruise in the morning, if there ever was a morning.

The yard in front of the dilapidated house was now in a state of confusion. No one knew what to believe apart from the three of us who were desperately trying to evade arrest. The only way I was going to get out of this was for a Winchester to save me. My pride wouldn't allow that, no matter how much I'd changed due to this case. At the end of the day I would nine times out ten refuse their help unless I was really stuck and it had to be really stuck. Right now I needed to be resourceful, I ad my arms, legs and the knife. The knife and arms were out of the question which left me with the legs. With nothing to loose and my freedom to gain I stamped as hard as I could on the officer's foot, trying to get his grip to loosen but it didn't work. I swear he must be made of steel. Not wasting any time after my failed attempt I lifted my knee and forcibly kneed him in the stomach. Knocking the wind out of him. If he wasn't trying to arrest me for something I hadn't done I might have felt sorry for him.

I wasn't about to dwell on it though, I'd managed to achieve freedom and I wasn't going to waste it. The only obstacle in my way was the handcuffs I so desperately needed to get rid of. Sam was too far away and too busy resisting another officer. Dean on the other hand was frantically looking for his gun, I couldn't see it from where I was but I didn't exactly have the time to look closely. The knife that was a short distance away from me but the officer that had been holding me was beginning to recover slightly; there was no time to grab it. "Dean!" I called, I'd already assessed that Sam couldn't help me. I ducked as the officer swung for me and let Dean come to the rescue. In a matter of seconds the Incredible Hulk was out cold and Dean had his keys.

"Thanks," I said to Dean as I rubbed my wrists. However, there was no time to rest. I couldn't wait for this evening to be over and the three of us to come out alive. For now though, I just had to take a concrete pill and get on with it, despite my constantly fluctuating fear and confidence. Something I was starting to enjoy.

Dean dashed back into the fray; I made a mad dash for the knife lying a short distance away. Ready to reach down and pick up the knife, I realised that I could put an end to this if I just raced at the Shapeshifter through the fray but that wasn't to me. With lightening speeds my feet were pulled from underneath me, slamming me face first into the dirt jarring my left wrist. It hurt, I won't lie to you. Actually scrap that hurt was an understatement. My wrists had taken most of the fall but I'd still banged my head on the floor, already I could feel a lump the size of an egg forming whether I'd drawn blood was for the time being unknown. Whoever had grabbed my leg was still clinging on, with slightly blurred vision I desperately tried to shake the hand off. My instincts were telling me that it was the officer who I'd kneed in the stomach. I kicked my free leg until it made contact with a solid object; I was praying that it was the man's head. Not that I wanted to see him hurt, I just had other priorities so to speak.

Not wanting to waste my time I sprung to my feet, by now my sight had cleared again, my knife once again held firmly in my uninjured wrist. I locked my eyes onto the Shapeshifter and rushed towards it. I could do this, I could end it all. I glanced around checking once more as I ran to check that the coast was clear and I wasn't about to get tackled to ground again. Dean was assisting the Sheriff, and Sam had managed to shake off the officers or at least as far as I could see and likewise had his sights set on the Shapeshifter.

The Shapeshifter himself was looking directly at me, so the element of surprise wasn't to be my friend. I could just charge straight at it and launch the knife at it but that had a very low success rate. I was more likely to get over powered by it. Whilst I was thinking a plan of action through, Sam, instead of action had seized his opportunity and tackled the Shapeshifter to the ground, I'd barely had to chance to blink as it happened. Knowing that Sam was weaponless I raced to help. "Sam! Hold it still," that turned out to be easier said than done all I wanted to do was stab it. The Shapeshifter's good arm was free and it had punched Sam in the face. Sam struggled to keep the Shapeshifter pinned to the dusty ground, collapsing onto my knees I scrambled to grab hold of the Shapeshifter as well but only grabbed a handful of its shirt which slipped through my fingers as it pushed Sam off and scurried away.

I didn't waste any time and tore off after it, Sam now covered in dirt pulled himself to his feet and followed, "Alice, don't loose it. If it escapes we'll never catch it again," I already knew that, nevertheless I let it spur me on and felt the now all too familiar burn in my lungs from running.

My eyes widened as I saw the Shapeshifter get into a police car and hastily turn the ignition. Now we were royally screwed so to speak. I couldn't get into the car; there wasn't enough time I was too far away. Instead I turned on my heel, heading for my truck. I crashed into Sam in my hurry. "Oof," it knocked the air out of me; Sam's hands on my shoulders steadied me.

"You okay?" he asked, gazing at me with concern.

"Yeah," I replied breathlessly, "my truck," I didn't have time to voice any more." We could have used their car which was quicker but we didn't have any keys. As we dashed towards my truck one of the few remaining officers stepped into our path, stopping us suddenly.

"Alice, you go, we'll catch up," Sam said. I didn't need to be told twice, I knew what was at stake.

"Right," I answered, already seeing the dust blown from the dirt road by the police car in the dark.

With one last look at Sam I rand for my truck, pulling my keys from my pocket in the process. "Be careful!" Sam called.

Slamming the door I launched the truck into life and hit the gas. In all honestly I hadn't anticipated a car chase that seemed too much like something out of a movie to me. The police car wasn't too far ahead; if I could get in front of it I could veer round and instantly put a stop to it. My truck would be ruined in the protest; I had no way of predicting how much. I just had to pray that it wasn't enough to cause me any pain or even worse, kill me.

I felt my truck's bumper clip that of the police cars and I had to fight to keep the wheel straight. This was it now or never. We hadn't yet reached the end of the long drive way so I still had time. I desperately wanted to close my eyes and then open them when everything was all fine and dandy once again but I couldn't I needed them to see my plan through. The speed I was forcing on my truck was causing it to rattle and protest but I had to get in front of the police car.

My truck crept up on the police car; I floored the acceleration and drew neck and neck with the truck. It was now or never, I swung my truck wound colliding with a smash into the front of the police car. I prayed with all I had that I was going to come out of it alive. The force of it was a surprise; I hadn't expected to feel the force of it as much as I did. It hurt, adding to my pounding head and throbbing wrist but I was mostly unscathed. I had been more than lucky but that didn't stop my legs from shaking as I wobbled from my truck slightly dazed with disbelief over what I'd just done.

"Alice!" it was Sam with Dean following behind, "what happened?"

I couldn't coordinate an answer quick enough, the crash having more of an impact than I though, all I could think of was the Shapeshifter. "You did that deliberately," Dean accused, I couldn't argue, I had.

"So what if I did?" I replied, not having the patience, "I had to stop it." On the subject of the Shapeshifter, I wobbled my towards the police car, where the Shapeshifter had thrown the drivers door open and was pulling itself out, no doubt intending on making a break for it again but we were too quick for it. Or rather Sam and Dean were too quick for it. I on the other hand, had to return to my truck for the knife using my last bit of energy. The knife was still lying on the passenger seat where I'd discarded it upon initially entering my now battered truck.

Sam and Dean had the Shapeshifter pinned against the undamaged side of the police car. I stood in front of it, knife raised, "it's over laser eyes," Dean said, tightening his grip on the Shapeshifter.

I looked to Sam for confirmation who nodded from opposite Dean, equally tightening his grip to hold back the struggling Shapeshifter. With my uninjured right hand I impaled the knife into the Shapeshifter's chest, piercing its heart. It let out a horrific scream. Instantly I backed away, I'd just ended a living creature's life without any second thought. I knew it had to be done and I would do it again if it meant saving someone's life despite this it doesn't mean that I have to like it.

The Winchesters' loosened their grip on the Shapeshifter, allowing it to slump against the side of the car and onto the floor. I dropped the knife to the floor with a clang and felt my own legs give way underneath me, Sam's arm's instantly tried to catch me but instead I dragged him down with me. With the realisation that the case had come to an end, my arrived my adrenalin finally gave away to the exhaustion. Crashing my truck had been the tipping point.

At least now, slouched against Sam, I felt that everything was okay.