Author's Note: Thank you so much for your reviews, when I get my 5th review I'll upload Chapter 3!
Winchester and Cain Chapter 02 - Wendigo
Valkyrie's P.O.V
Sam, Dean and I were on the road to Colorado, going to the co-ordinates that the boys' dad, John Winchester, had given them. Sam was only here because he sought vengeance from the demon that killed his girlfriend, Jess. I looked at the boy who was asleep next to his brother in the front seat and frowned: the poor guy hadn't had a good week, after all. Sam suddenly jerked awake, gasping for breath, I jumped and widened my eyes at him, then caught Dean's look at me in the rear view mirror. "You ok?" The older brother asked as Sam rubbed his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam muttered as he stared out the window, not meeting me or Dean's gaze.
"Another nightmare?" I asked gently, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, he cleared his throat and didn't answer.
"You wanna drive for a while?" Dean asked.
"Yes." I answered immediately, Dean turned his head and rolled his eyes on me and I shrugged, "What?" I asked innocently, eyeing the polished dashboard and gleaming steering wheel, Sam laughed at me and then looked at his brother.
"Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." Sam said suspiciously, next to him Dean shot him a confused look.
"Just thought you might want to. Never mind." Dean huffed.
"Look, I know you're both worried about me, I get it. And thank you! But I'm perfectly okay." Sam sighed and glanced at the two of us.
"Mm-hmm." Dean nodded, unconvinced. Sam ignored him and grabbed the map from the dashboard and looked at it.
"All right, where are we?" Sam asked.
"We are just outside of... What's it called again?" I piped up.
"Grand Junction." Dean answered, his eyes fixed on the road. "We went through the map earlier, Valkyrie, you should know this by now." Dean scolded. I scoffed and crossed my arms sulkily.
"Yeah, well I'm not likely to remember the highly obnoxious ones like Grand Junction. What's so Grand about it anyway?" I asked, the two boys chuckled and exchanged a glance. Sam folded the map away and I glimpsed the label Dean had stuck there with the co-ordinates 35-111 on.
"You know what?" Sam asked as he placed the map back on top of the dashboard, "Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon." He suggested lightly.
"Sam, we dug around there for a week. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica-." I started, but Sam cut me off.
"We gotta find my Dad first. I know, I know." Sam sighed and nodded.
"Dad disappearing, and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence." Dean shrugged and overtook a lorry, "Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do." He finished in a firm voice.
"It's weird man, these co-ordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge." Sam observed.
"What about it?" Dean asked.
"There's nothing there. It's just woods." He moaned. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" He asked, but no one answered. In silence we drove passed a sign that said: 'Welcome to Lost Creek, Colorado, National Forest.'
I could only describe the Ranger Station with one word: shabby, the inside was dusty, with a once-bright carpet with dark patches staining areas of it, Sam was looking at the 3D map of the National Park, whilst Dean and I were looking at the tacky decorations on the walls. "So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." Sam pointed out, I turned and saw he was gesturing to an area on the map labelled 'Blackwater Ridge' the only thing that worried me was the fact that I couldn't see any signs of civilisation near it apart from this station, and that was still a good several miles from the drop point. "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." He continued, his finger tracing the wide berth area of Blackwater Ridge, I gulped and shot Sam an uneasy look.
"Great. What do you think, Dean?" I turned to look at the older brother, but his attention was focused on something else entirely.
"Dude, check out the size of this frickin' bear!" Dean exclaimed, pointing to a large black and white photograph hanging above a mantel, I stepped closer for a better look and was amazed to see a man standing next to the largest bear I have ever seen. Sam stepped up beside us and stood next to me.
"And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." Sam sighed and tapped the grizzly picture.
"Great, just great." I moaned and Dean chuckled beside me.
"What? Not into hikes, sweet-cheeks?" He grinned and I hit him out of principal and glared.
"Don't get used to calling me that, Dean." I warned and we went back to staring at the photograph.
"You guys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" An aged voice sounded behind us and we whipped round, startled. An old man in a forest ranger's uniform was standing behind us.
"Oh, no, sir. We're enviromental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Sam lied smoothly for us, chuckling a little beside me. Dean suddenly took hold of my hand and we both fist pumped, I shot a look at Dean and saw a huge, enthusiastic grin painted on his face.
"Recycle, man!" He cheered jubiantly, the old man didn't look too impressed.
"Bull." He crossed his arms and scoffed at us, Sam's eyes flickered to me and I rolled my eyes in return. "You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" The man asked us, none of us answered so I nodded.
"Yeah, she's one of my best friends, Ranger... Wilkinson." I smiled, checking the man's nametag.
"Well, I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a blackcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" The ranger answered, I nodded in understanding.
"Yeah well, you know Haley, she's always been such a worryer, right from when we were kids." I shrugged and made a 'what can you do?' face.
"You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine." The ranger continued. I opened my mouth to answer but Dean put a hand on my shoulder.
"We will. But that Haley girl's a pistol, huh?" Dean smirked, I frowned but Dean squeezed my shoulder hard and I shut up.
"That is putting it mildly." The old man answered.
"Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date." Dean shrugged, the ranger paused and Sam and I exchanged a look, we looked back and saw Dean raising his eyebrows innocently.
The three of us exited the station, Sam and I were quiet whilst Dean was holding up a piece of paper and grinning like a five year old. "What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam frowned at his older brother.
"What do you mean?" Dean shot us a confused look, I sighed and rolled my eyes at him: boys.
"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Sam asked, we all stopped next to Dean's car.
"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean argued back, I was silent as I looked between the two brothers, Sam looked more confused than anything else.
"What?" The younger brother asked.
"Since when are you all 'shoot first ask questions later' anyway?" Dean crossed his arms and eyed his brother suspiciously.
"Since now." Sam answered in a firm voice and turned away, refusing to catch anyone's eye. Dean glanced at me and I shrugged at him, he shrugged back and I sighed in relief when I heard the car unlock, without waiting for another moment I opened the back door and slid in.
The backcountry permit had provided me with the basic information of Haley Collins, she was around Sam's age and lived alone with her two brothers, Tommy and Ben, and had been since their parents died, the permit hadn't provided Dean a picture but it had supplied him an address. We walked up to the house in silence, I could feel the tension between the two brothers and had decided to keep out of it. Dean stepped up and knocked on the front door and we waited for someone to answer, the door opened to reveal a pretty girl with dark wavy hair and dark eyes, much like me, but she wasn't as tall or as muscled as I was. Not that this surprised me - she didn't do what I did. "You must be Haley Collins, I'm Dean, this is Sam and, er..." Dean trailed off and frowned at me, I stepped up to the doorstep and smiled warmly at her.
"Hi, I'm Stephanie," I introduced myself smoothly, "We're rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over, he wanted us to ask a few questions about your older brother Tommy." I explained, the doubt that flickered in her eyes was no longer there, but she still looked suspicious.
"Let me see some ID." She asked, I faltered and looked back at Dean, edging a smile and giving him a look. He nodded and stepped up, bringing his ID out of his pocket, I glimpsed the name Dean Cole on it next to Wildlife Reserve Service. Haley's brow furrowed as she read it, then she looked up at Dean and he smiled. There was a pause. "Come on in." She moved aside and held the door wide open for us, her eyes looked at something behind us and she nodded her head to it. "That yours?" She asked. We looked back at Dean's shining black car and Dean himself nodded almost smugly to the girl. "Nice car." She nodded and walked on through, Dean followed behind. I stepped forward to the doorway and felt Sam's hand on my arm.
"Stephanie?" He asked a little dubiously.
"What? You didn't think Valkyrie was my real name, did you?" I smirked and scoffed, leaving him in the doorway. I found Dean and Hayley in the kitchen, another boy was sat at the table with his attention on a laptop, Ben, I assumed.
"So," Sam started as he leant against the kitchen counter, "If Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" He asked.
"He checks in everyday by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos - we haven't heard anything in three days now." She answered.
"Well, maybe he can't get any reception." I tried to reason with the girl, but she shook her head furiously.
"He's got a satellite phone too." She countered, I sighed and shrugged in return.
"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean piped up from across the room.
"He wouldn't do that." Ben frowned at Dean from the table, Dean stared him down and Ben looked back at his laptop, Haley busies herself and puts more food on the table.
"Our parents are gone. It's just me and my two brothers, we all keep pretty close tabs on eachother." The girl explained.
"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asked, Dean whipped around and sent his brother a weird look, but Sam ignored him.
"Yeah." Haley shrugged, Ben slid his seat over as Hayley pulled up a chair to the table, she clicked on some files as the three of us crowded behind her, she pulled up some pictures of a guy in various poses in a tent. "That's Tommy." She pointed at the screen, the guy in the photos looked happy. Haley clicked on a tab and a video of Tommy came up, she clicked play and we listened in.
"Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe - so don't worry, ok? Talk to you tomorrow." The video clip ended and Hayley looked up at us.
"We'll find your brother, Haley, don't worry." I smiled and beside me Dean nodded.
"Stephanie's right, we're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing." He confirmed, at this Haley cracked a smile.
"Then maybe I'll see you there. Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy, I'm heading out in the morning and I'm gonna find Tommy myself." The smile was no longer warm - it had a hard edge of determination to it.
"I think I know how you feel." Dean agreed and I knew he was talking about finding his Dad, I had seen it in his eyes: Dean wanted nothing more than to find him and make sure he was safe.
"Do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked, the girl looked confused but nodded.
"Sure."
We had found the local bar and were sat at a table out the way, Sam had his laptop and John Winchester's journal out on the table. "So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there, they were never found." Sam stated as he opened the journal.
"Any before that?" I asked, Sam nodded and pulled out some newspaper articles and slid them across the table for Dean and I to read:
Grizzly Bear Attacks!
Up to eight hikers vanish in lost creek area – hikers disappearance baffles authorities
"And again in 1959 and also before that in 1936." Sam opened his laptop and began typing on it, the screen lighting up his face. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay, watch this - here's the clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop, check this out." Sam spun the laptop round so it faced us and clicked play, I expected to see the video Hayley had shown us but Sam had altered it, it was a two second clip with no sound, just Tommy in his tent. I frowned when I saw a shadow cross in the background and looked up at Sam.
"What was that?" I asked the boy, Sam shrugged and Dean frowned at him.
"Do it again, Sammy." Dean told him, Sam nodded and showed us again and this time it wasn't a trick of the mind: a shadow was definitely passing behind Tommy at an alarming pace.
"That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second, whatever this thing is - it can move." Sam explained, reaching his hand out to take the laptop back. Dean hit him on the wrist and Sam jumped and looked up at his brother.
"Told you something weird was going on." Dean stated in a smug voice, I rolled my eyes and Sam grinned.
"Yeah." He said in an unenthusiastic tone, giving his brother a look as he took the laptop back. "I got one more thing." Sam added, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his jacket pocket and laid it on the table, smoothing the creases from it. I picked it up and studied it, it was an old newspaper article. "In '59 one camper survived a supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid, barely crawled out of the woods alive." Sam told us, I nodded and passed the paper back to him.
"Is there a name?" I asked.
We were stood inside the witness, Mr Shaw's, house. He was a lean, unshaven old man who stank of alcohol and cigarettes, we were stood in Mr Shaw's run down kitchen, he was leaning against the kitchen sink whilst Dean, Sam and I had chosen to stand and not touch anything.
"Look, rangers, I don't know know why you're asking me about this. It's public record, I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a-."
"Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Sam interrupted, Mr Shaw took a puff from his cigarette and nodded thoughtfully.
"The other people that went missing that year, were those bear attacks too?" I asked him, the man paused and Dean cleared his throat.
"If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it." Dean persuaded, Mr Shaw paused and sat at the kitchen table, Sam pulled up a chair opposite him.
"Mr Shaw, what did you see?" Sam asked gently.
"Nothing, it moved too fast to see. It hid too well, I heard it though. A roar. Like... No man or animal I've ever heard." Mr Shaw answered, he put his cigarette out and I frowned at the... Thing he'd described.
"It came at night?" I asked, Mr Shaw nodded and I cocked my head in confusion. "It got inside your tent?" I pressed.
"It got inside our cabin - I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door: it unlocked it. Do ou know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up 'til I heard my parents screaming." The man explained, his burnt out cigarette sent up wafts of smoke around the room and it made my nose twitch.
"It killed them?" Sam took over the question asking, Mr Shaw shook his head sadly.
"Dragged them off into the night." He answered, his voice shaking and his eyes teary. "Why it left me alive... Been asking myself that ever since." He finished sadly, Mr Shaw's hands went to his collar on his old, matted shirt. "Did leave me this, though." He opened up his collar to reveal three long scars resembling claw marks, Sam looked at me and I sent him a fearful look. "There's something evil in those woods, it's some sort of demon." He finished, a long silence followed after that.
Dean, Sam and I were walking along the corridors of the motel on the edge of town, "Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls." Dean pointed out, I had only recently been briefed on demons and their abilities, so I was feeling pretty left out of the conversation.
"So it's probably something else, something corporeal." Sam reasoned.
"Corporeal? Excuse me professor." Dean frowned at his younger but taller brother, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Shut up. So what do you think?" Sam asked.
"The claws, the speed that it moves... Could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it." Dean answered with a disturbing smile.
"Right, kill it... When we only have one shotgun between us." I rolled my eyes, although I knew full well that I had my magic but I couldn't predict how Sam and Dean would react if they found out about it.
"Oh Valkyrie, Valkyrie, Valkyrie... Do you prefer Valkyrie or Stephanie?" Dean's question threw me off and I looked up at him in shock.
"What?" I asked.
"Sam told me earlier that your real name is Stephanie. I was wondering why you changed your name permanently, I mean, is there something me and Sam should know that we don't?" He explained, I stopped walking and looked at both brothers, they had stopped with me and were staring at me intently.
"Well, uh, I changed my name because it was easier." I tried, but Dean frowned and shook his head.
"Easier how, exactly? Because, sure me and Dean use fake names for jobs but everyone knows us as Dean and Sam Winchester. But you've been using Valkyrie from the start, so what's the deal?" Dean pressed, I looked from him to Sam and sighed, then took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
"Ok, well. My uncle died when I was eleven years old and he was a writer, he left all his royalties and stuff to me and I was staying round his house one night when a man came over demanding I let him in. I refused but he came in anyway, but someone else rescued me, he became my partner after that and he trained me to be a detective and fight and... Stuff. To do what I do, I had to leave home - so I took a new name." I shrugged and leaned back against the wall, Sam and Dean looked shocked.
"Ok, well... Wow." Sam stuttered and I managed a smile.
"Yeah, so that's why I took a new name." I shrugged again.
"So which do you prefer?" Dean asked, I paused for a moment before answering.
"I've been going with the name Valkyrie for seven years..." I paused again, "I don't mind, either is good, I guess." I stared at a spot on the floor, in the corner of my eye I saw the brothers exchange a look.
"Ok Stephanie, we don't only have one shotgun between us." Dean smirked at me, I cocked my head to one side and raised an eyebrow in question.
Outside in the parking lot, Dean opened the trunk and pointed to a huge, black box in the center of the trunk. "Sam, be a dear." He looked at his brother, Sam sighed and held open the trunk door so it wouldn't fall on Dean. Dean grabbed the box and slid it closer to him, "Only one shotgun between us, Stephanie? That's not exactly right..." Dean opened the box to reveal many, many weapons. Various knives and handguns could be seen, I could see at least five shotguns in view.
"Woah." I said in absolute awe.
"Yep. We're well prepared for, ah, various situations." Sam smiled as Dean started packing some weapons into a black duffel bag.
"Did you rob a guns store? Seriously, where did you get all this stuff?" I asked, my eyes on the rows of boxes of ammunition that were stacked on the sides of the box, Dean picked up several of them and dumped them into the bag.
"We just collected over the years, really. Loads of these are from Dad and others, but yeah. We just think: it's better to have loads than hardly any, really." Sam shrugged, I nodded as Dean zipped up the bag. "We cannot let that Hayley girl go out there." Sam stated, I looked at him, startled over the sudden change of subject.
"Oh yeah? What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?" Dean scoffed at his brother, I half expected him to hit his younger brother on the back of the head.
"Yeah." Sam nodded, his tone firm.
"Sam, her brother's missing, I don't think she's gonna sit this one out." I told him, beside me Dean nodded.
"Steph's right, we're gonna go with her, protect her and keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend." He said picking up the duffel bag and slinging it over his shoulder.
"Finding Dad's not enough?" Sam challenged, slamming the weapons box shut, then he slammed the trunk. I winced at the sound of the trunk and looked at Dean, expecting him to explode over his car. "Now we gotta babysit too?" He continued, Dean merely stared at his brother, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. "What?" Sam didn't sound as confident anymore.
"Nothing." Dean said and walked away, I looked at Sam and saw he was staring after his brother, but I couldn't read the look on his face.
The next morning we pulled up before the woods, Haley and Ben were stood in their outdoor clothes, backpacks strapped to their backs. A man in a typical hikers outfit was stood with them, looking at us suspiciously. We piled out the car and stood in front of Dean's car whilst Sam opened the back door of the car and fetching the duffel bag. "You guys got room for two more?" Dean called to Haley.
"Wait, you want to come with us?" The girl asked, Dean shrugged and nodded. The man beside Haley tapped her shoulder.
"Who are these guys?" The man asked, frowning at Dean, Sam and I. I narrowed my eyes at him and leaned over and whispered to Sam.
"This guy looks like a douche." I whispered loudly, Dean overheard me and chuckled, whilst Sam grinned.
"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Haley cast her eyes over us, unimpressed.
"You're rangers?" The man spluttered, I smirked and nodded.
"That's right." I answered.
"And you're hiking out in biler boots and jeans?" Haley scoffed, looking down at Dean's outfit.
"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean smirked at the girl, I burst out laughing and followed Dean as he passed the girl, the guide standing beside Hayley reached out and grabbed my arm painfully.
"What you think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt." The man seethed, I sighed heavily and kicked out at his knee, it buckled and he gasped: his grip loosened a little on my arm. I reached out with my left hand and squeezed the nerve on his forearm, he cried out and released his grip altogether. I smiled sweetly as he fell to his knees clutching his arm and pressed the pressure point on his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear.
"You'll do well to remember that I can kick your ass into next week if you so much as lay one finger on me, you son of a bitch." I spoke low and threatening into his ear, he nodded and my smile sprung up again, I let go of his shoulder and turned; everyone was staring at me in shock. "Are we ready to go?" I asked innocently, Hayley and the boys nodded and my smile stretched wider. "Great. What are we waiting for?"
The forest soon swallowed us up, the trees were so dense I couldn't see the sky, Dean had suggested that we should all stick together like a tight-knit group, but the guide, Roy, had refused to even look at me, let alone walk with me; so he walked ahead of us. "Roy, you said you do a little hunting." Dean called to him, Roy didn't look back but he answered all the same.
"Yeah, more than a little." Roy's voice drifted back to us, Dean nodded and called out to him again.
"Uh-huh, what kind of furry critters did you hunt?" He continued.
"Mostly buck, sometimes bear." The guide answered curtly, Dean's walking pace sped up and he passed by Roy and then slowed his pace, so he fell into step beside Roy.
"Tell me," Dean continued, "Uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" He nudged him, I started sniggering which earned me a death glare from the hiker, Roy turned and grabbed Dean and the whole group stopped: Sam looked at me and I gave him a startled glance. "Watcha doing, Roy?" Dean asked calmly, a smirk tugging the edge of his mouth. But the guide took no notice of him, he picked up a fallen stick from a tree and put it on something on the ground, there was a horrific snapping sound and I jumped and stepped forward to see: Roy had placed the stick on a bear trap Dean's foot had almost stepped on. I shot him a worried look but he didn't take notice, he called past me and to the group. "It's a bear trap." He smiled and shook it off, but Roy leaned in close to Dean and whispered to him in an almost threatening tone.
"You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger." Roy scoffed and retook the lead. Alone. Dean stared after him and then shrugged and rejoined our group.I walked with Dean for a little while until I felt the air shift behind us and I turned to see Haley catching up to us.
"You didn't pack any provisions, you guys are carrying a duffel bag. You're not rangers." She said angrily, pointing to the duffel bag Dean had slung over his shoulder, Dean and I exchanged a look but neither of us answered, Haley made an annoyed noise and grabbed his arm, making us come to a halt."So who the hell are you?" She demanded. Ben and Sam passed by us and Dean looked on in silence, then he turned to the girl.
"Sam and I are brothers, and we're looking for our father. He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and I: we're in the same boat." Dean explained, Haley's expression changed from an angry demand to a soft realisation.
"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?" She asked, Dean pulled a face.
"I'm telling you now, besides, it's probably the most honest I've been with a woman... Ever. So we okay?" He shrugged one shoulder, Haley looked at him for a long moment and then turned to me.
"And what about you?" She asked.
"Honestly? I was almost run over by this idiot, and I'm a detective: so I'm kinda tagging along with them and saving their asses along the way." I explained, she gave me a weird look but then nodded and looked at Dean again.
"So are you two, like, a thing?" She asked, there was a moment of silence which lasted all of two seconds before I burst out laughing, ahead of us Sam and Ben turned and gave us a startled look and then continued their walk. When I stopped giggling at the odd idea and caught the hurt look on Dean's face.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just... the mere idea of you and me – makes me chuckle." I grinned, Haley smiled and we continued walking, she seemed much happier now.
"Anyway, what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean asked Haley, she turned with a confused look on her face and was met with Dean pulling out a bag of M&M's and sticking his hand in it, Haley stared at him and I chuckled as I moved on and caught up with Sam and Ben.
After twenty minutes of more walking Sam, Ben, Hayley, Dean and I were taking a break and sitting on a large rock that we had deemed suitable to sit on. "Haley! Over here!" Roy's voice called out to us and we took off at a run in the direction in which it came from.
"Oh my God." Haley exclaimed, shock in her tone. I looked up and saw a ruined campsite... Although ruined didn't even begin to describe the scene before me: the tents were savagely slashed open, blood splattered various parts of it, what were once supplies were scattered around or smashed.
"Looks like a grizzly." Roy observed, looking grimly around the campsite. I gave Sam a look as Dean and Haley searched the savaged site.
"Tommmy?" The girl called, throwing down her backpack and walking through the ravaged site, "Tommy!" She shouted out his name even ouder, Sam ran up to the girl and gave her a panicked look.
"Shh." He said.
"Tommy!" Haley was screaming now, Sam looked at her and then at the dark forest.
"Shhhhhh!" He shushed her even louder.
"Why?"
"Something might still be out there." He answered in a low voice.
"Sam! Steph!" Dean called, we both walk over to where the older brother was crouched a little way from the campsite. "The bodies were dragged from the campsite," Dean pointed to a the overturned soil leading in a trail away from the bloodied scene, "But here, the tracks just vanish. It's weird." Dean pointed to where the overturned soil just disappeared.
"What does that mean?" I asked, giving the boys a confused look as we stood up.
"I'll tell you what, that's no skinwalker or black dog." Dean replied, Sam and I followed him back to the campsite, I spotted Haley crying and looking at something in her hands, my insides turned cold as I saw it was her brother's phone, bloodied and broken in her hands. I walked over and crouched down beside her, my arm wrapped comfortingly around her shoulder, she jumped and looked up at me with teary eyes.
"Hey, he could still be alive." I whispered to her, she merely sniffed and I prepared myself for the onslaught of the crying girl.
"Help! Help!" A male's voice called from the treeline, I caught Sam's eyes and everyone took off sprinting in the direction of the call, we slowed to a stop when we couldn't find anyone.
"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" I asked the group, they nodded and we were all silent as we listened out for another cry.
"Everybody back to camp." Sam ordered, we nodded in agreement and walked back to camp.
"Our packs!" Haley exclaimed as we reached the site, I looked around and saw that the girl was right: everyone's bags had been taken, including Dean and Sam's duffel bag of weapons.
"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone." I heard Roy sigh from behind me.
"What the hell is going on?" Haley asked, I recognised hysteria bleeding in through her panicked tones.
"It's smart, it wants to cut us off so we can't call for help." Sam explained, shooting Dean a worried look.
"You mean someone, some nutjob out there just stole all our gear." Roy replied, but he didn't get an answer I walked over to Sam with a concerned look on my face.
"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked him in a low voice so the other's wouldn't overhear, he grabbed my arm and tugged me over to where Dean was.
"I need to speak with you both. In private." Sam told us, we both nodded and headed over to where we were crouched looking at the tracks of someone being dragged away from the site. "Let me see Dad's journal. "He looked at his older brother, Dean nodded and pulled out the book from his jacket pocket. Sam flipped through it until he found a particular page, "All right, check that out." He said, pointing to a hastily but neatly drawn picture of a shaded picture.
"Oh come on, Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or – or Northern Michigan, I've never even heard of one this far west." Dean shook his head angrily at his younger brother, but Sam wouldn't back down.
"Think about it, Dean: the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice." Sam pressed, his eyes wide and boring deep into his brother's eyes.
"Wait, wait wait, I thought the Wendigos were just a myth: you know, the flesh eating giving it super-human abilities? It can't be real." I held up a hand and shook my head at Sam, Dean chuckled and grasped my shoulder's and looked down at me.
"Oh Stephanie, think again, sweet-cheeks." He grinned and I glared slits at him.
"Don't call me that!" I moaned and Dean chuckled again. "Anyway, so what can kill the Wendigo?" I asked, Dean sighed and reached into his other pocket and pulled out his pistol.
"Definitely not this, it's rendered useless against the so of a bitch." He complained and angrily shoved it back into his pocket.
"Oh joy of joys." I moaned and rolled my eyes.
"We don't need to worry about that now, we need to get these people to safety." Sam replied, we all nodded and walked back into the middle of the site where Ben, Haley and Roy had gathered.
"All right, listen up: it's time to go. Things have gotten... More complicated." He addressed the group, Haley was the first to speak up.
"What?" She asked.
"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Roy gave Sam the most patronising look, making me narrow my eyes at the arrogant guide.
"It's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now." Sam warned the group, but Roy shook his head in disagreement.
"One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders." The guide argued and I sighed loudly.
"Just shut up, Rick." I glared at the man, he looked shocked for a moment before his eyes turned dark with anger.
"Why you insolent little-." He started striding towards me but Dean stepped forward with his hands out.
"Hey hey hey, relax." Dean tried.
"We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right? I'm trying to protect you." Sam continued, giving me a warning look but I ignored it.
"You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your Mommy was still kissing you good night." Roy scoffed, stepping up into Sam's face.
"Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here." Sam warned again, looking down at the everyone's surprise the ranger merely laughed at him.
"You know you're crazy, right?" He sniggered, looking at the three of us in amazement.
"Yeah? You ever hunt a wen-." Sam was interrupted by Dean shoving him and giving him a look.
"Roy!" Haley called to her guide and he walked off.
"Chill out, both of you." He said, looking between Sam and I.
"Stop. Stop it," Haley looked at her guide in annoyance, "Everybody just stop, look, Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him." She stated, a long pause followed her statement.
"It's getting late, this thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark – we need to settle in and protect ourselves." Dean broke the silence with his advice, Haley crossed her arm and raised an eyebrow at him: that was my thing.
"How?" She asked him.
Dean and Sam were drawing out symbols on the dirt and had told me to light the campfire, Haley was talking with her brother and Roy was staring at Sam and Dean. I checked to see that no one was looking and clicked my fingers and conjured a flame in my hand, pouring my energy into it before dropping it onto the fire. The wood instantly caught fire and the glow from the roaring flames illuminated the surrounding area. "Thanks, Stephanie!" Haley called over to me, I merely shrugged and gave her a small smile before walking back to where Dean and Sam were drawing on the ground.
"Run it by me again – what are those?" I asked the older brother.
"Anasazi symbols, they're for protection, the wendigo can't cross over them." He explained, behind us Roy laughed, the fire illuminated his silhouette and making his shodow large and dark, stretching out towards us. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean called out over to the ranger. Once Dean had finished we headed over to where Sam was seated on the edge of the campsite. "You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" He asked, ruffling his younger brother's hair.
"I'm-."
"No, you're not fine. You're like a power keg, man – it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?" Dean cut Sam off before he could so much as utter the words: I'm fine.
"Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would've left us a message, a sign, right?" Sam asked, his voice riddled with doubt. Dean sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, you're probably right To tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek." He agreed, I watched the two in silence, the orange glow from the fire lighting up one half of their faces in the dark.
"Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?" Sam questioned.
"This is why." Dean answered, he pulled out his Dad's journal from his pocket and held it up for the two of us to see. "This book, this is Dad's single most valuable possession – everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it onto us, I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know: saving people, hunting things – the family business." He explained, flicking through the pages of the battered journal for emphasis.
"That makes no sense, why doesn't he just call us? Why doesn't he tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?" Sam shook his head in annoyance and held his head in his hands, rubbing his temples.
"I dunno, but the way I see it: Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it." Dean shrugged and Sam lifted his head out his hands and gave his older brother a serious look.
"No, I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about." He admitted in a quiet voice.
"Okay, all right. Sam, we'll find them, I promise. Listen to me, you've gotta prepare yourself. This search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul, it's gonna kill you... You gotta have patience, man." Dean explained to his brother.
"How do you do it? How does Dad do it?" Sam suddenly asked, Dean sighed and took a deep breath, his gaze switched from us to the people behind us.
"Well for one, them." He explained, Sam and I both looked over to where Dean was looking and saw he was watching Ben and Haley sat next to the fire, Haley's arm was draped over her younger brother's shoulder. "I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Make things a little bit more bearable." He shrugged and broke his gaze from the boy and girl crouched next to the fire. "I'll tell you what else helps." He added, Sam and I looked back to Dean, the older brother paused for needless effect. "Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." He smirked, I giggled and Sam edged a smile, behind us a twig snapped off in the forest and we both jumped and looked into the deep, dark woods.
"Help me! Please!" A voice begged from the darkness, we all stood up at the same time and looked off into the forest, Dean pulled his gun from his pocket and readied it. "Help!" The cry of despair continued, some of the trees closest to us were lit up when Sam flicked a torch on and shone it round.
"He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put." I called over to the group, trying to harness some comfort into the crowd.
"Inside the magic circle?" Roy sent me a questioning look and I glared at him.
"It's either stay put here, or I feed you to it." I bit out at him.
"Help! Help me!" The wendigo continued, the hysteric tones drifted over to us. It was quiet when no one moved, then a deep, monstrous growling emitted from the forest and Roy pointed his gun at the sound.
"Okay, that's no grizzly." He admitted, his gun trained on a single spot in the woods.
"It's ok, you'll be alright. I promise." Haley was speaking to her brother and hugging him tightly, speaking soothing tones in Ben's ear as she comforted him. I felt the air shift violently in front of me and felt the wind rush past as something dashed around the area in front of us, I widened my eyes in amazement and fear: what creature could run at such a blinding speed? How can we kill it, if we can't even see it?
"It's here." I muttered to the two brother's, they were stood at the edge of the circle and looking out into the forest. There was a rustling in the trees about two metres to my left, I jumped when I head a gunshot and dived to the right, jumping again as a second shot was fired.
"I hit it!" Roy's triumphant shout sounded behind me and he ran past me to the forest.
"Roy, no! Roy!" Dean called after him, he turned to Ben and Haley and gave them both stern looks, "Don't move." He ordered, then the three of us tore after the guide into the forest: the exact place where I did not want to go.
"It's over here! It's in the tree!" We saw Roy pointing up at a tree, a wide grin set on his face. I felt the air shift above him and saw something, a flicker of a thing, reach down and grab Roy's neck and a sickening crunch sounded. I cried out and blinked, that's it: one blink and Roy had disappeared, the wendigo had disappeared.
I was quiet at the campsite for the rest of the night, it shook me to see something kill someone with such ease, and I felt even worse because I didn't exactly like the guy, so not feeling bad at all was just the worst. "He ran right by me, I mean I could've just grabbed him and stopped him... Maybe if-."
"Steph stop it. You couldn't have done anything to prevent Roy running out away from the site, ok?" Dean called over to me I looked up and he was giving me a small, unconvincing smile.
"Yeah." I muttered and went back to staring at the outer circles on a tree stump.
"I don't... I mean, these types of things – they aren't supposed to be real." Haley spoke up: on the way back to the campsite last night shortly after Roy's disappearance Sam and Dean had made the decision to tell Haley and Ben about the supernatural world.
"I wish I could tell you different." Dean sighed sadly and gave the poor girl a sympathetic look.
"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" She asked, her dark eyes darting around the forest beyond the campsite.
"We don't-."
"It is." The words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them, I closed my eyes and sighed, at least it was the truth: I could feel the air shift slightly, the currents dabbling lightly under my palms letting me know that the wendigo was out there and close by.
"But we're safe for now..." Dean finished, giving me an odd look as I turned slowly to face the crowd.
"Ok. Great... How do you all know about this stuff?" Haley asked, she gave me a questioning look before switching her gaze to Dean. Dean paused a while as he considered the question, he suddenly shrugged with a wide smirk painted on his face.
"Kinda runs in the family." He answered, Haley nodded slowly and it was silent for a while, Sam walked over and smiled at us all.
"Hey," He addressed the crowd, "So we've got half a chance in the daylight, and I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch.
"Well, hell you know I'm in." Dean smiled at his brother, Sam smiled back at his older brother and I felt all the more safer.
"Need you ask?" I piped up, Sam grinned at me and I shrugged one shoulder, I stood up from the tree stump and stretched my legs. I walked over to the group as Sam was showing the drawing of the wendigo from his Dad's journal to Ben and Haley.
"Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'." He told the group, pointing to the drawing whilst Dean came up and stood next to his brother.
"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man, sometimes an Indian. Other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter." Dean explained, Haley and Ben nodded slowly, glancing from Dean to the drawing.
"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley asked, Dean made a grim expression and got his pistol out and started fiddling with it.
"Well, it's the same thing every time. During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or group." He said, unloading and fiddling with the bullets.
"Like the Donner Party." Ben muttered.
"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities: speed, strength and immortality." Sam continued, his eyes flickered to the area in the forest where we had run after Roy last night, and guilt washed over me again.
"If you eat enough of it, over the years, you become this... less than human thing. You're always hungry." Dean explained, his nose twitching in disgust as he described the monster that lurked in the woods.
"So, if that's true: how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asked, Dean shifted uncomfortably and glanced at the girl.
"You're not gonna like it." He hedged, unwilling to share the information that he held. He glanced at Sam and then back to Haley, she looked unfazed at the two boys.
"Tell me." She ordered, her tone firm and her expression fixed in hard sangfroid.
"More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there." Dean explained, Haley's face drained and went as white as a sheet. I looked down and saw that her legs were shaking a little.
"And then how do we stop it?" She asked, forcing the fear out of her voice.
"Well," Dean looks down at his gun and made an annoyed face, "Guns are useless, so are knives. Basically..." Dean held up a battered can of lighter fluid, a beer bottle and a torn piece of the tent, "We gotta torch the bastard." He smiled, I couldn't help but grin and shake my head at him.
Dean led the way through the woods, I held my hands out discreetly to my side to detect any, any movement that passed by us, Dean was at the front armed with his man-made flamethrower, I was close behind him ready to warn the group in case I saw something unusual. Sam was behind the group keeping an eye out for Haley and Ben as they walked close beside eachother. I felt the air shift and brush against my palms and I stopped walking and looked around the woods, my ears straining to hear that horribly familiar whooshing noise that indicated the wendigo was nearby. I looked up and noticed something on the trees, I squinted and then realised what they were. "Sam. Dean." I called them over.
"What is it?" Dean asked as he and Sam neared. I nodded my head upwards and they looked up at the trees: there were bloodied patches on the trunks and there were deep, vicious grooves that were unmistakeably claw marks.
"You know, those claw prints, they seem almost... too clear, too easy to follow." Sam observed, I found myself nodding: he was right, the marks seemed like they had been put there intentionally. A twig snapped and a deep growling came from the bushes to our right, the three of us whipped around to it, I held my palms out trying to feel for the air currents against my palms. Haley was stood under a tree looking up with us, I heard a familiar dripping sound and I looked over to her. I cringed when I saw a dark red seeping on her shoulder, Haley looked up and then dived out the way, a corpse landed where she was stood. The corpse rolled over and I recognised it as Roy, Haley cried, jumped up and ran over to us, she threw her arms round me and cried whilst Dean walked over and inspected the body.
"His neck's broke." Dean observed grimly as I tried to prise myself away from the distraught girl. Growling sounded behind us and I shot Sam a panicked look. "Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Dean exclaimed, we all took off through the trees, Dean and I veered off to the left and I risked to look behind me and relaxed when we saw it was Haley – of course she would follow Dean instead of Sam. The whooshing noise passed beside us and I went left whilst Dean and Haley continued onwards, I tripped and fell over a tree root and sprawled on the floor. Strong arms grasped my waist and suddenly I was up on my feet again, I went to lash out with my arm: expecting it to be the wendigo. A hand caught my fist and my eyes widened when I saw Sam.
"Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha." Sam's voice was in my ear and I nodded, my eyes wide with fright. I slowed down when I felt the air for anything that may have been in pursuit and came up with nothing, Sam and Ben stopped with me and we stood gasping for air. "Why did you stop? The wendigo coul-."
"The wendigo isn't following us, Sam." I told him, Sam frowned at me.
"How could you possibly know that?!" Sam gave me a confused look, I opened my mouth to lie but a scream cut me off.
"Haley?" Ben looked at us in panic, we tore after the noise and stopped short when we saw a familiar item on the ground, Sam stooped and picked it up: it was Dean's home made flamethrower. Fear seeped through me as Sam looked wildly around the forest for his brother.
"Dean!" He shouted.
Sam, Ben and I were hiking, yet again, through the forest. "If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben asked, he seemed to have gained more confidence since Haley had disappeared: I think it was the adrenaline mixed with the burning desire to retrieve his older siblings.
"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off." Sam answered bluntly, I blinked in surprise but shook it off: Sam was much more concerned to kill this wendigo and get Dean back more than ever. Ben stopped walking and picked something up from the ground, I expected it to be a finger or something cliché like that, but it was an M&M.
"They went this way." Ben pointed up ahead of him and I saw another bunch of the brightly coloured sweets scattered around next to a fallen tree, Sam took the sweet from Ben and laughed.
"It's better than breadcrumbs." Sam shrugged and I managed a laugh as he tossed the M&M away into the green tundra. It was much easier now we were following Dean's trail, we soon reached an entrance that looked like it led to an abandoned mine, there was a large sign with large, red writing:
WARNING! DANGER! DO NOT ENTER – EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIAL! NO ADMITTANCE!
Sam looked up at the sign and then at me, I shrugged and walked on inside, resisting the urge to click my fingers and conjure a flame so I could see through the darkness of the damp, gloomy mine. A few more steps and I was tempted to expose myself for the ability of sight. Thankfully Sam's torch flashed on and a white beam cut through the gloom, deep, ferocious growling sounded ahead of us and the torch beam cut off and we flattened ourselves against the wall, the wendigo prowled towards us in the dark, stones skittering across the floor in the pitch black as it neared us. I held my breath as the sound of the wendigo passed by us, we waited a minute when silence fell, another half a minute before Sam flicked his torch on again. We continued on in the opposite direction the wendigo had gone, our feet left the hard, stony earth and went on wooden floorboards, they creaked and groaned under our weight and then suddenly the broke open, the three of us tumbled down and crashed onto the cold, damp ground. I felt a sickening crunch beside me and saw Sam's foot resting on a broken skull that must have shattered when he landed on it, Ben suddenly leapt backward and Sam steadied him. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay." Sam shushed him, Ben nodded, his breathing heavy. I saw Sam's torch in the corner of the room, the light still shining brightly, I got up and walked over to the small object on shaky legs. I stooped and picked it up, ignoring the protests that my aching muscles made, once the torch was in my grip I shone it over Sam and Ben, they both looked fine. I surveyed the shaft we had fallen down and rope hanging from the ceiling caught my eye, the beam traced down the rope and I gasped at who was hanging on the end of it.
"Dean!" I called out, throwing the torch to Sam and Ben and rushing over to him, he was unconscious but seemed alright, albeit a little bloody. Sam was soon next to me, shaking his shoulders roughly, fear painted on the younger brother's face.
"Dean!" He begged, slapping him lightly on the face, I sighed in relief when Dean opened his eyes and winced.
"Dean, you ok?" I asked him, he nodded slowly.
"Yeah." He groaned, beside us Ben was trying to awaken his sister.
"Haley, Haley. Wake up, wake up!" Ben was saying to his sister, I searched the floor for a stone sharp enough to cut through the rope that bound Dean. I found a stone that would do the trick, if enough force was applied. I jumped when Dean lands on the ground next to me, his hands free, he leaned against me as he coughed painfully, I grabbed one arm whilst Sam grabbed the other and we carefully led Dean to the floor as he sat down painfully on the floor.
"You sure you're alright?" Sam asked his brother, Dean grimaced but nodded all the same.
"Yeah. Yep. Where is he?" Dean asked.
"He's gone for now." I told him, beside us Haley was conscious and staggering over to something in the far corner of the shaft.
"Tommy..." She cried mournfully, I looked up and saw she was looking at another body hanging from the ceiling. In the halflight she touched the boy's cheek and he jerked awake, Haley jumped back and shrieked before turning to me.
"Cut him down, now!" She demanded, I narrowed my eyes at her attitude but held my hand out to Sam for the rock he used to free Dean. He handed it to me and I strode over to the boy, presumably Tommy, and I cut him down. Tommy fell and weakly slumped into Haley's arms, she stroked his head soothingly and whispered into his ear soothingly, "We're gonna get you home." She told him, Ben had picked up the torch and was shining it around the room.
"Look! Our stuff." Ben said, we turned around to where Ben was shining the light and we were met with the familiar sight of our stolen packs. I walked over to our duffel bag and zipped it open, there were flare guns on top of the many weapons in the bag, I held them up and smirked at the two brothers.
"Check it out, you said fire can kill it, right?" I said, Sam managed a sideways grin as he looked up from his brother.
"Flare guns, those'll work." He grinned wider and I laughed and twirled the guns in my hands. Haley and Ben were supporting their brother behind us. The all too familiar deep, primal growling echoed around the mine, I looked frantically around for the monster but couldn't see it anywhere.
"Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean joked, but it didn't calm the Collin's like I knew he wanted to.
"We'll never outrun it." Haley stated hopelessly, Dean cast a look back at the three siblings.
"You two thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean's gaze returned to Sam and I, Sam nodded but I frowned.
"Yeah, I think so." Sam replied, Dean looked over at me and we locked eyes.
"Alright, listen to me, Steph, stay with Sam and the other's - I'm trusting you and him to protect the others." Dean addressed me, he was trusting me to help Sam and him save Haley and her brothers. I nodded firmly and he smiled.
"What are you gonna do?" Haley called to him, he caught my eye and winked before breaking away from the group and sprinting off in the distance.
"Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby. I taste good." I heard Dean's taunting yell as he faded out in the distance as we ran along.
"Alright, come on! Hurry!" Sam urged the group, Haley nodded and we continued on down the tunnel.
Growling echoed down the tunnel behind us and Sam and I stopped and allowed Tom, Ben and Haley to pass in front of us, Sam had his gun trained on the dark passageway.
"Why are you stopping? Come on." Haley said to us, Sam and I shook our heads at her.
"Get him outta here." Sam told her, the girl shook her head.
"Sam, Stephanie, no." She disagreed.
"Go, go, go!" Sam shouted at them, Ben grabbed his sister's arm and looked at her.
"Come on, Haley!" Ben told her, she caved and they both help their injured brother down the tunnel. Immediately Sam and I whirled, Sam's gun up and ready to fire at anything, anything that lurked in the dark.
"Come on. Come on." Sam murmured, the growling got deeper and louder, the air shifted wildly around us and I let out a scream when the wendigo appeared in front of us, it had the shape and rough build of a man, but it's skin was dark and leathery and it's face was something monstrous. Something inhuman. It bared its fangs at us and roared, Sam fired the flare gun but I saw the flare miss and illuminate the tunnel behind the wendigo. "Run!" He yelled and we sprinted away and reached Haley and her brothers, they stopped and looked back at us.
"Sam! Stephanie!" She called out to us, the air shifted again behind me and I sent them a look of urgency.
"Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry." I told them, they turned again and started hurrying to the edge of the tunnel where daylight was draping in.
"Get behind me." Sam says, I looked up at him and shook my head.
"I can help." I argued, but Sam shook his head.
"Stephanie, I'm the one with the only weapon that can kill it." He finalized, "Just stay here." He grabbed me and shoved me behind him, we backed up until I bumped into Ben and saw the wall we had been backed up into. I waited two seconds before I glared at the monster.
"Screw this." I scoffed and stepped past Sam, he look at me with wide eyes.
"What are you doing?!" He cried out to me, but I ignored him, the wendigo watched as I stepped away from the group and smirked as it followed after me, I clicked my fingers and smiled as the wendigo stopped and actually tilted it's head in confusion. I threw the fire ball in my hand and grinned as it hit the wendigo in the stomach, the fire seared through it's torso and it went up in flames. "Finally." I sighed and turned to the group, they were looking at me in shock.
"What the hell was that?" Haley exclaimed, I managed a wry grin despite everything.
"Long story." I answered, footsteps approached behind us and Dean approached us, his gun aimed and ready.
"Where is the son of a bitch?" He demanded, looking like a child who'd been cheated in a game.
"Uhh..."
I stood with Sam as Ben, Sam and I were interviewed by a police officer, a little way off Dean and Haley were talking whilst Tommy was getting loaded into the ambulance."And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?" The officer asked us.
"That's when it circled the campsite. I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds." Ben answered, the officer glanced at Sam and I and we both nodded convincingly.
"Alright, we'll go after it first thing." The officer said and I smiled widely at him.
"Thank you, officer." I said politely, the officer walked off and Ben turned to us.
"So, I guess me and Haley can't thank you enough for what you guys did back there for us." Ben smiled, Sam and I shrugged at the same time.
"It's nothing, really." Sam answered.
"Running for our lives through some godforsaken mine is not nothing." Ben shook his head in disagreement, "Thank you both so much for your help." He repeated, I nodded and then I was suddenly being enveloped in a tight hug.
"Ben... Struggling to breathe." I gasped, he nodded and let go and I sucked in great lungfuls of air whilst Sam laughed.
"Thanks man." Sam shook Ben's hand and we walked over to Dean and Haley, she was kissing him on the cheek and looking up into his eyes dreamily.
"I hope you find your father again." She said to Dean in an earnest voice, she turned and passed us and stopped and looked at the two of us. "Thanks, Sam," The girl smiled up at him, Sam nodded and then she turned to me, "Stephanie, I don't know how you can do the things that you did but they saved me and my family's life. Thank you for that." She looked at me gratefully, I pulled a face and shrugged.
"It really wasn't that much trouble, Haley, but you're welcome." I smiled at her, she nodded and headed off to the ambulance with her younger brother. We joined Dean leaning on the hood of his car as we watched the ambulance drive away.
"Guys, I hate camping." He stated and I smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Me too." Sam agreed.
"Sam, you know you're gonna find Dad, right?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, I know. But in the meantime?" He looked over at me, "You have some explaining to do, and you," He turned to Dean, "I'm driving."
Author's Note: Thank you so much for your previous reviews, when I get to 5 I will upload Chapter 3!