Dean spared a glance at Sam. It looked like he had fallen asleep. He had filled up the tank when they had stopped for food. He would drive until he ran out of gas or Sam woke up whichever came first.

SSS

Sam woke up about four hours later. He started screaming. "Stop! Stop!"

Dean pulled the car over.

"What's wrong?"

"I need more."

"More what?"

Sam looked around. They were in a car. Dean must have taken him out of the panic room for some reason. He didn't know why, but he had to get out and go find Ruby. He needed more. He opened the door and ran out.

"SAM!" Dean yelled. "What is going on?" he muttered to himself. Then he closed his eyes. Sam would be about 25 now. He was jonesing for demon blood. Not good.

SSS

Sam had run deep into some woods. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone. He wasn't sure if he would get reception or not, but it turned out it didn't matter. Of course, Dean had tricked him out of his phone before tricking him into the panic room. He wondered why it hadn't occurred to him who Dean would be calling when he said that his phone was dead. Both he and Bobby were right there. Who else did Dean ever call?

Sam saw a stream up ahead. He went to it, took a drink and followed it. He would get out of the woods and find a phone so he could call Ruby. Ruby was the only one he could count on these days.

SSS

When Sam had run into the woods, Dean hadn't been sure what to do. He'd been caught off guard and Sam had had a significant head start. Add that to the fact that Sam ran faster than him in the first place and he knew he would never catch up.

He couldn't just let Sam wander around the woods, though. If he fell asleep and then woke up later, he would have no idea where he was. Not that he wouldn't be able to find his way out. If anyone had received enough survival training for anything it was John Winchester's sons.

So, to recap, he couldn't catch up to Sam running, couldn't track his GPS as he didn't have a cell phone on him, and couldn't leave him in there. What did that leave? Tracking him. Dean sighed as he entered the woods. It was going to be a long day. But, at least a running saskwatch left lots of clues in his wake.

SSS

Sam finally made it out of the woods. He spotted an old country store that actually had a pay phone. Even with all the speed dialing they did nowadays, he always made sure that he knew at least one of Dean's current numbers, Bobby's home and cell and, most importantly, Ruby's number.

He dialed it.

"The number you have dialed is out of order…"

Sam slammed down the phone. That bitch changed her number. What was he going to do now?

The adrenaline of escaping Dean was leaving him. It was being replaced with chills and shaking. The last time this had happened he had received a visit from Alistair.

"Hiya, Sammy."

"Gordon," Sam said, fearfully looking at the very sharp knife, Gordon was holding. "I killed you."

"I was right about you, Sammy," Gordon said and leapt onto Sam and tied him up in one swift motion.

Sam found himself laying on a ball. Gordon started cutting into him. "NO!" he screamed.

Three men came out of the store attracted by the commotion.

"What do you think? Some crazy druggie?" one of them asked, looking at the solitary figure in a fetal position screaming for mercy.

"Must be. I'm sick of them messing up our woods. Let's teach him a lesson."

"What do you want to do?"

"Go back in the store and get some honey. We'll take his clothes off, cover him with honey and tie him to a tree. The ants will eat him alive."

The other two laughed. This would be fun. The first guy ran to his truck and got a rope.

They went over to him and set to work. "Let's shut him up as soon as possible, too." When they got his clothes off they stuff his underwear in his mouth to muffle the screaming.

"His underwear? That's pretty gross. Can't we use something else."

"These woods are full of fire ants. That's going to be the least of his problems in about a half hour."

Sam watched as Gordon's two friends, Kubrick and Cready, joined him.

SSS

Dean had lost Sam's trail at the river, but he knew what he would do. He hoped he was right anyway. Sam had played opposites the last time he had run from him to get demon blood. But, he had had a few more options at that point.

When he got to the edge of the woods, he saw three men tying a naked Sam to a tree. "Hey!" he yelled pulling his gun out.

"Just teaching a druggie a lesson," one of them said.

"Did it ever occur to you he might have a medical condition instead of being high on something?" Dean asked, knowing they were right, but majorly pissed off at them. On the other hand, if not for them, Sammy may be long gone now. Either way, he had to get rid of these guys.

Sam's head cleared. He saw three strangers right in front of him and Dean holding a gun on them. Was his underwear in his mouth? He wanted to gag, but knew he would choke on it. He felt a burning sensation on his legs. He looked down. There were ants on him, biting him. He whimpered. It hurt.

"Get out of here!" Dean yelled.

The ringleader took one look at Dean's eyes, motioned to his buddies and they ran off.

Dean ran up to Sam.

"Son of a bitch," he said, when he saw the ants. He wiped them off, and untied Sam as quickly as he could. He dragged him into the store, and the elderly man let him used the bathroom to clean Sam up and get him dressed again. The ant bites wouldn't kill him, but they were going to hurt a while.

"I need more," Sam whispered. Then he passed out.

Sam addicted to demon blood was almost as bad as RoboSam. Another hour of sleep and… Dean realized that another hour or so would bring him to soulless Sam. And soulless Sam didn't sleep. This was not good.